Quarantine to be scrapped for vaccinated non-Brits ‘in weeks’
International travellers coming to the UK who have been fully vaccinated could be exempt from quarantine rules within weeks, Grant Shapps has said this morning.
Speaking to Sky News a day after he announced an easing of travel restrictions for fully vaccinated Brits, the transport secretary said ministers were “actively looking” to do the same for foreign nationals.
“We want to be able open that up for people. We’re actively working on it,” he said. “In the next couple of weeks I’ll be able to come forward and say more about other locations in the world.”
He said that the government would focus on those countries which had inoculated their citizens with WHO-approved vaccines.
Yesterday, in his statement to the House of Commons, he suggested that EU and US travellers would be the first to benefit from the easing of restrictions.
His words come after both the business travel and inward tourism lobbies warned that failing to apply the same rules to international travellers risked crushing the sectors.
UK Inbound, which represents Britain’s domestic tourism trade, said not applying the same rules to overseas travellers was the “final nail in the coffin” for the UK’s inbound visitor economy.
It estimated the UK will lose out on £70m a day in exports as long as tourist restrictions remained in place.
Under the new rules, from 19 July Brits returning from “amber list” countries will need to take two tests – one before returning to the UK, and another PCR test on the second day after returning.
The need for a test on day eight and the rule to isolate for 10 days will no longer apply.