Pressure to relax holiday rules as fewer than one in 200 amber list travellers have Covid
The government is under mounting pressure to relax rules on overseas holidays as figures reveal fewer than one in 200 travellers from amber list countries are testing positive for coronavirus.
Furthermore not a single variant of concern was found among such passengers, according to NHS Test and Trace data.
Only 89 out of 23,465 people who arrived in the UK from amber list countries between May 20 and June 9 had the virus, The Times reports.
There were no positive cases brought into the UK from 151 of the 167 amber list nations.
No passengers traveling from any of the 11 green list countries tested positive during the same period and no variants of concern were identified.
Among those travelling from red list countries, 435 of the 24,511 people, or 1.8 per cent, had coronavirus with 89 variants of concern detected.
The traffic light system was introduced in May as a way of reintroducing foreign travel.
Relax rules on holidays abroad
Boris Johnson is facing increasing pressure from backbench Tory MPs to relax strict holiday rules designed to stop the virus from spreading amid the findings.
Conservative MP Sir Graham Brady said ministers should allow people to “reap the benefits” of Britain’s successful vaccine rollout.
“Vaccination and testing are making international travel safer just as surely as they make things safer within our borders,” he said.
Travel consultant Paul Charles, founder of the PC Agency, said: “It’s hard for the government to hide behind this data which is clearly showing that the green list should be widened and that most amber countries are in fact safe to travel to and from.”
However, justice minister Robert Buckland told the BBC the government had to balance the risks of foreign holidays bringing new variants of the virus into Britain.
It comes as a top Public Health England advisor hinted that double vaccinated Brits may not have to isolate following trips abroad.
Dr Susan Hopkins said there might be “alternatives to isolation” for travellers who have received both coronavirus jabs - but warned that people should stick to home holidays this summer.
She told the BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show: “We’ll be looking at the evidence from other countries.
“We’ve talked a lot to countries like Israel who are ahead of us in the vaccination campaign and they are now really looking at allowing people to come into their country who’ve had two vaccines and not needing to isolate.”
Britain’s airlines and holiday companies are planning a “day of action” on Wednesday to ramp up pressure on the government to ease travel restrictions, with just weeks to go before the start of the peak summer season.
Travel companies, whose finances have been stretched to breaking point during the pandemic, are desperate to avoid another summer lost to Covid.
Boris Johnson had slated Monday for the end of all legal coronavirus restrictions in his road map to ease England’s lockdown, but has delayed until July 19 because of concerns over the rapidly-spreading Delta variant.
A minor relaxation will take place instead to remove the 30-person cap for weddings, with venues instead asked to limit numbers based on space required to enforce social distancing measures.
Read More
Two-thirds of Britons planning on going on holiday against gov advice
‘Holiday at home’: Minister dashes hopes of foreign trips this summer
Talking Point: What do you think of e-scooters launching in London?
Why Huawei and London are ideal partners to embrace a digital future
