Popular holiday hotspots including Malta, Ibiza, Mallorca and Minorca could be added to the UK’s “green list”
The UK government is due to deliver its latest travel advice on Thursday following Matt Hancock giving fresh hope to the prospect of people being able to go on summer holidays this year, with popular holiday hotspots including Malta, Ibiza, Mallorca and Minorca potentially being added to the UK’s “green list”.
Government ministers will reveal which, if any, countries are to be moved to the UK’s quarantine-free green list and those of which travelling to continues to be either banned or restricted to Britons.
However Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, has said that travellers from the UK should be quarantined wherever they arrive into the EU due to growing fears over the spread of the Delta coronavirus variant.
This comes after there will reportedly be no “legal compulsion” to wear face masks once the coronavirus restrictions in England are lifted, the environment secretary has said, as he said that he will be ditching his face mask when the rules are scrapped.
“In our country, if you come from Great Britain, you have to go into quarantine – and that’s not the case in every European country, and that’s what I would like to see,” she said within the Bundestag lower house of parliament.
Popular holiday hotspots including Malta and the Balearic Islands, which include Ibiza, Mallorca, Minorca and Formentera, could be added onto the UK’s “green list” for travel on Thursday as part of the nation’s traffic light system for travel abroad, sources suggest.
The health secretary has suggested foreign trips abroad to all amber list countries could be on the cards to those who have received two doses of a coronavirus vaccination within the near future, with the government hoping a trial looking at replacing quarantine with daily testing will prove effective.
This would mean that people who have had two jabs could travel to countries such as France, Spain, Portugal, Greece and the United States and not have to self-isolate when they get back.
According to The Times, children travelling with their parents who have both had two vaccine doses may also be exempt from quarantine measures under the proposals being considered.
But government sources said there will be no imminent concrete changes to travel guidance on this.
This comes after Prime minister Boris Johnson has said it is “looking good” for the 19th of July to be the “terminus point” for England’s coronavirus restrictions, but did not rule out the prospect of further coronavirus lockdowns in the winter.
But those hoping to book a late summer getaway could face another obstacle – with German Chancellor Angela Merkel calling for travellers from the UK to be quarantined wherever they arrive in the EU, due to growing fears over the spread of the Delta variant.
“In our country, if you come from Great Britain, you have to go into quarantine – and that’s not the case in every European country, and that’s what I would like to see,” she said.
Environment Secretary George Eustice told Sky News that Mrs Merkel’s comments were “unjustified”.
