Sadiq Khan pushes for return of international travel despite new Covid variant cases in London
Sadiq Khan has called for international travel to return as soon as possible, despite a new cluster of cases of the South African Covid-19 variant in South London.
The London mayor told City A.M. today that that he backs the government’s traffic light system for restarting international travel and that he is “hoping it will be possible later on this summer for there to be international holidays”.
The government’s travel taskforce is due to report back in the next few weeks to announce whether international travel can resume on 17 May as originally planned in Boris Johnson’s roadmap out of lockdown.
Transport secretary Grant Shapps last week told people that they could start to consider foreign holidays abroad this summer, after the government previously advised against booking anything.
More than 40 cases of the potentially vaccine-resistant South African Covid variant were found in Lambeth and Wandsworth this week, forcing a wave of surge testing in several South London boroughs.
It is thought the cases may have originated from people travelling from African countries adjacent to South Africa in February.
Khan said today that the outbreak should not dissuade the government from opening the borders as long as there is a proper testing regime in place.
“I think the traffic light system is one we should explore, because we know there are some parts of the world where the virus has reduced, where there is robust testing,” he said.
“If there’s proper procedures in place I see no reason why international travel can’t return for these safe countries sooner rather than later.
“I am hoping it will be possible later on this summer for there to to be international holidays, but I think Londoners appreciate it won’t be all over the world, it can only be some parts of the world.”
The proposed traffic light system will see countries put into either green, amber or red categories depending on things like rates of the virus, rates of vaccination and prevalence of new variants.
Transport minister Robert Courts said yesterday that it “would not be right for me to speculate as to which countries in which parts of the world are likely to be on which list”.
How the traffic light system will work
- Green: Passengers will not be required to quarantine on return to the UK, but must take a pre-departure Covid test, as well as a test on return to Britain
- Amber: Travellers will need to quarantine for 10 days, as well as taking a pre-departure test and two PCR tests on return
- Red: Passengers will have to pay for a 10-day stay in a managed quarantine hotel, as well as a pre-departure test and two PCR tests