Covid: PM defends approach to international travel

Boris Johnson says the government wants a "balanced approach" to travel, but warns the UK must try to stop new Covid variants being imported from abroad.

Responding to speculation about a new amber watch-list of nations that could join the red list at short notice, he said he wanted advice to be "simple".

Mr Johnson said he understood "people care very much about their holidays" but that Covid remained "dangerous".

The next update to the travel list system is due on Thursday.

During a visit to Airbus in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, the prime minister said: "On travel, we have had to balance it because of the anxiety that I think a lot of people have - I have - about importing new variants, bringing back the disease.

"We also have to recognise that people want, badly, to go on their summer holidays, we need to get the travel industry moving again, we need to get our city centres open again and so we want an approach that is as simple as we can possibly make it."

Boris Johnson spoke to reporters during a visit to Airbus in Stevenage

Tory MPs have raised concerns about the prospect of a so-called amber watch-list.

Under current rules people who were fully vaccinated in the UK, US, EU (except France) or Switzerland do not have to isolate for 10 days when arriving from amber list countries.

But people coming to the UK from red list countries are required to isolate for 10 days in a government-approved hotel regardless of their vaccine status.

• Your travel guide to summer holidays in the Mediterranean

• No quarantine for fully jabbed EU and US arrivals

The government already has a green watch-list, which features more than half the countries on the green list and signals they are at risk of moving to amber.

What are the traffic light system rules?

• Green country: When returning from a country on the green list you must take a Covid-19 test before departure and have proof of a negative result. You also need to book a test for day two after your return

• Amber country: A Covid test is needed three days before returning, and a PCR test two days after arriving. People who are not fully vaccinated in the approved countries need to self-isolate for 10 days, although this can be shortened for people in England by using the Test to Release scheme - paying for a test on day five

• Red country: Regardless of your vaccination status you must take a test before departure and, on arrival, self-isolate for 10 days in a government-approved quarantine hotel

Read more here.

Huw Merriman, chairman of the Transport Select Committee told BBC Radio 4's Westminster Hour that the potential new travel category would "be viewed as a massive red flag" that would "likely" cause bookings to those countries to "collapse".

Asked about the possibility of a new watch-list Labour Party chairwoman Anneliese Dodds told Times Radio the opposition did not want to see "additional confusion and chaos" and that the government needed to be "open and transparent".

But government minister Matt Warman defended the idea of travel watch-lists, telling Sky News that warnings over potential quarantine changes gave people "really important information when they're making significant financial decisions".

Airline bosses had welcomed a change in rules, which came into force earlier on Monday, but said the UK aviation sector was not on the path to recovery "due to the continued restrictions that are being imposed on international travel".

In a letter to Transport Secretary Grant Shapps they called for more countries to be added to the green list, saying that countries should be green by default.

Heathrow Airport chief executive John Holland-Kaye said the UK's current travel rules were "still quite complicated" and needed to be simplified to make it easier for people to travel, as well as reducing some of the extra costs.

He said the requirement for everyone to have a PCR test could be reduced to a "cheaper lateral flow test as a first line of defence".

On Monday, the UK reported 21,952 new Covid cases while a further 24 people have died within 28 days of a positive Covid test as of Sunday.

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