EU approves restriction-free travel for vaccinated citizens but UK left out over Delta variant fears
EU countries have today agreed a plan to relax travel restrictions over the summer months, with fully vaccinated tourists not required to take tests or quarantine.
However, due to concerns over the spread of the so-called Delta variant of Covid-19, the UK will not initially be included on a list of extra countries the rules will apply to.
Current EU president Portugal said that ambassadors from the EU 27 had approved a proposal to allow anyone fully vaccinated for 14 days should be able to travel in the bloc without restrictions.
Restrictions for other travellers should be based on the degree to which the country they are coming from has Covid-19 infections under control.
Just over a quarter of EU adults are now fully vaccinated.
The new guidelines come after the EU parliament approved digital vaccine certificates earlier this week. The “vaccine passports” will come into use on 1 July, although individual countries will launch certificates earlier.
Under the EU’s traffic light system, “green” regions must now have fewer than 25 cases per 100,000 people in 14 days, with below 4.0 per cent of positive tests. That will rise to 50, or 75 if the positivity rate is less than 1.0 per cent.
For those travelling from green regions, there will be no travel requirements.
The system will also apply to non-EU members of the open-border Schengen zone – Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, but not Britain.