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By Estelle Shirbon
LONDON, April 8 (Reuters) - Britain will confirm in early
May whether it will allow international travel to resume from
May 17 and which countries will fall into the red, amber or
green categories in a new traffic light system based on COVID-19
risks.
Giving new details of how it hopes to allow people to travel
this summer, the government's Global Travel Taskforce also said
work was ongoing to develop a certification system, sometimes
called "vaccine passports", for inbound and outbound travel.
Britain is gradually emerging from a strict winter lockdown
prompted by a huge surge in COVID-19 infections and deaths. As
things stand, international travel is banned except under
specific circumstances defined by the government.
Case numbers have dropped dramatically since the January
peak, and one of the government's top priorities is to avoid
undermining the success of the national COVID-19 vaccination
programme by importing vaccine-resistant variants from overseas.
So far, more than 31.8 million people in the United Kingdom
have received at least one dose of vaccine, while 6.1 million
have received two, in one of the fastest mass vaccination
campaigns in the world.
"The framework announced today will help allow us to reopen
travel safely and sustainably, ensure we protect our hard-won
achievements on the vaccine rollout and offer peace of mind to
both passengers and industry as we begin to take trips abroad
once again," said Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.
Airlines, travel companies and members of the public eager
to plan their summer holidays have been putting pressure on the
government to explain what the rules would be.
Under the new traffic light system, restrictions such as
hotel quarantine, home quarantine and compulsory COVID tests
will apply differently depending on which category of country a
passenger has come from.
Factors in assessing which category a country should fall
into will include the percentage of the population that has been
vaccinated, the rate of infection, the prevalence of variants of
concern and the country's access to reliable genomic sequencing.
There will be a "green watchlist" identifying countries most
at risk of moving from green to amber, although the government
said it would not hesitate to change a country's category at
short notice should the data show the risk had increased.
The taskforce recommended removing a "permission to travel
form" currently required, meaning passengers would no longer
need to prove they had a valid reason for leaving Britain.
It also said it was working with the travel industry and
with private COVID-19 test providers to reduce the cost of
travel for the British public.
"This could include cheaper tests being used when
holidaymakers return home, as well as whether the Government
would be able to provide pre-departure tests," the statement
from the travel taskforce said.
Under current rules, free testing provided by the National
Health Service is not available for the purpose of travel,
meaning passengers have to turn to private providers who charge
high fees for tests.
The taskforce indicated that a digital travel certification
system would be part of the plan, but gave few details beyond
saying that Britain wanted to play a leading role in developing
international standards in this area.
(Reporting by Estelle Shirbon; editing by Diane Craft)
