British holidaymakers have been dealt a blow after no new countries were added to the green list from next week.
Travel from the UK to 11 countries and territories will be allowed without quarantine on return to Britain, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has announced.
But that was already the case – and many of them still force Brits to isolate at their end.
Meanwhile, the Transport Secretary tightened the rules on countries with high infection rates, moving seven destinations, including Sri Lanka and Egypt from the amber to red lists.
And in a blow to thousands of Brits already in the country, Portugal will be removed from the green list and turned amber just three weeks after opening its doors. Madeira and the Azores are also moving to amber.
Holidaymakers in Portugal now face a scramble for flights home before the new rules come into force at 4am on Tuesday.
The move – as fears mount over the spread of new variants – means Brits who return after the cut-off date must isolate for up to 10 days at home.
Scroll down to read the new lists in full.
In a day of chaos, announcements were dripped out of Government without official confirmation, causing confusion to holidaymakers and the travel industry.
Mr Shapps made it clear that the decision to tighten rules was linked to spread of new variants.
He said: “I want to be straight with people, it’s actually a difficult decision to make, but in the end we’ve seen two things really which caused concern.
“One is the positivity rate has nearly doubled since the last review in Portugal and the other is there’s a sort of Nepal mutation of the so-called Indian variant which has been detected and we just don’t know the potential for that to be vaccine-defeating mutation and simply don’t want to take the risk as we come up to June 21 and the review of the fourth stage of the unlock.”
The announcement came after hopes that the most popular Spanish and Greek islands could be added to the green list were dashed.
It had also been hoped countries like Malta, Finland and Slovakia could be added to the green list. But Boris Johnson had warned yesterday that he could tighten restrictions on some countries while loosening them on others.
The Prime Minister said: “We will have no hesitation in moving countries from the green list to the amber list, to the red list, if we have to do so.”
Today’s announcement was the first three-weekly update to the green list since foreign leisure travel was made legal on May 17.
The updates will come into force at 4am on Tuesday, June 8, with the next set of changes around June 28.
Just 12 countries and territories were on the first version of the green list – many of which, like Australia, would not let Brits in anyway.
Brits returning from green, amber and red list nations must all fill out a locator form and take at least two Covid tests.
But crucially, people who arrive from green list countries do not need to quarantine when they return to the UK.
By comparison, arrivals from amber countries must self-isolate at home for up to 10 days, while red list arrivals face a mandatory £1,750 hotel stay.
The green ‘watchlist’ shows countries that are still rated green, but are at risk of turning amber in the near future.
Ministers were looking at separating out the biggest island hotspots from their host territories – allowing travel to them.
But the decision was shrouded in mystery until the last minute as it depended on advice from the UK’s Joint Biosecurity Centre.
Green list status is decided by a complex combination of factors, which include:
- Variants in the country – including how widespread and transmissible they are, and any evidence they evade a vaccine.
- Testing and weekly case rates per 100,000 people, and the % of tests that come back positive.
- If the country is safe, but has strong travel links with other countries that have a big risk from variants.
- How good that country is at genomic sequencing – in other words, spotting new variants.
- How good the overall data in the country is – in other words, if low case rates can be trusted.
Paul Charles, chief executive of travel consultancy The PC Agency, said the move was a “terrible decision”.
He said: “They are basically putting at risk tens of thousands of jobs across aviation and the travel sector, and not showing any signs of helping the sector to recover.
“They seem to want to continue to create an atmosphere of fear among travellers, which is totally at odds with other countries.
“There are several countries which meet the criteria to be on the green list so this is clearly a politically charged decision rather than one based on data.”
Here is the new traffic light list in full.
Green countries
Australia
Brunei
Falkland Islands
Faroe Islands
Gibraltar
Iceland
Israel and Jerusalem
New Zealand
Singapore
South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands
St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
Amber countries
Akrotiri and Dhekelia
Albania
Algeria
Andorra
Anguilla
Antigua and Barbuda
Armenia
Aruba
Austria
Azerbaijan
The Bahamas
Barbados
Belarus
Belgium
Belize
Benin
Bermuda
Bhutan
Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba
Bosnia and Herzegovina
British Antarctic Territory
British Indian Ocean Territory
British Virgin Islands
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
Cambodia
Cameroon
Canada
Cayman Islands
Central African Republic
Chad
China
Comoros
Congo
Cook Islands, Tokelau and Niue
Côte d’Ivoire
Croatia
Cuba
Curaçao
Cyprus
Czech Republic (Czechia)
Denmark
Djibouti
Dominica
Dominican Republic
El Salvador
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Estonia
Fiji
Finland
France
French Polynesia
Gabon
The Gambia
Georgia
Germany
Ghana
Greece (including islands)
Greenland
Grenada
Guadeloupe
Guatemala
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Haiti
Honduras
Hong Kong
Hungary
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kiribati
Kosovo
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Laos
Latvia
Lebanon
Liberia
Libya
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macao
Madagascar
Malaysia
Mali
Malta
Marshall Islands
Martinique
Mauritania
Mauritius
Mayotte
Mexico
Micronesia
Moldova
Monaco
Mongolia
Montenegro
Montserrat
Morocco
Myanmar (Burma)
Nauru
Netherlands
New Caledonia
Nicaragua
Niger
Nigeria
North Korea
North Macedonia
Norway
The Occupied Palestinian Territories
Palau
Papua New Guinea
Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands
Poland
Réunion
Romania
Russia
Samoa
San Marino
Sao Tome and Principe
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Serbia
Sierra Leone
Slovakia
Slovenia
Solomon Islands
South Korea
South Sudan
Spain (including the Balearics and Canary Islands)
St Kitts and Nevis
St Lucia
St Maarten
St Martin and St Barthélemy
St Pierre and Miquelon
St Vincent and the Grenadines
Sweden
Switzerland
Syria
Taiwan
Tajikistan
Thailand
Timor-Leste
Togo
Tonga
Tunisia
Turkmenistan
Turks and Caicos Islands
Tuvalu
Uganda
Ukraine
United States (USA)
Uzbekistan
Vanuatu
Vietnam
Wallis and Futuna
Western Sahara
Yemen
Red countries
Afghanistan
Angola
Argentina
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Bolivia
Botswana
Brazil
Burundi
Cape Verde
Chile
Colombia
Congo (Democratic Republic)
Costa Rica
Ecuador
Egypt
Eswatini
Ethiopia
French Guiana
Guyana
India
Kenya
Lesotho
Malawi
Maldives
Mozambique
Namibia
Nepal
Oman
Pakistan
Panama
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Qatar
Rwanda
Seychelles
Somalia
South Africa
Sri Lanka
Sudan
Suriname
Tanzania
Trinidad & Tobago
Turkey
United Arab Emirates (UAE)
Uruguay
Venezuela
Zambia
Zimbabwe