Holiday rules get tougher for unvaccinated as green and amber lists scrapped

Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s travel liveblog, where we’ll be sharing all the latest updates.

An announcement of major changes to the UK’s rules for international travel is expected later today.

Government leaks to the media in the past week have suggested the top changes could be the removal of the amber list, with just two lists remaining – one of countries deemed safe for travel, one unsafe – and PCR tests being scrapped or reduced for the fully vaccinated.

There have also been suggestions that the red or unsafe list could be more than halved in the coming weeks.

It is unclear whether today’s announcement will be a “roadmap” out of the current travel rules, or one large set of changes to both travel testing and the traffic light lists.

Here’s everything we know so far:

Turkey is the top country being tipped for removal from the red list, in an update to the travel rules that is expected to be announced later today.

Dozens of other countries, including the Maldives, South Africa and Sri Lanka, are also rumoured to be moving off the government’s no-go list, with transport secretary Grant Shapps expected to announce a simplified version of the traffic light system that removes the amber classification altogether.

Countries will instead be divided into either a green list or a red list, eliminating the “grey area” travellers have complained of since the system was introduced earlier this year.

On Tuesday, Covid data analyst Tim White told The Independent that he gives Turkey a 60 per cent chance of coming off the red list at this update.

When asked by one hopeful holidaymaker if he expected it to be removed from red, White replied: “Yes I do. Probably around 60% this week. If not then 80% chance in the 1 October reform.”

The Independent’s travel correspondent, Simon Calder, is at Newcastle airport for us this morning, talking to staff and passengers as they wait for the expected easing of international travel rules.

He has tweeted: “Not sure what will change today, but if you’re heading for Spain, France, Greece, Portugal, Italy, Croatia etc there is zero chance of any moves to the red list.

“Please don’t book your inbound tests yet. They can only get cheaper/easier.”

A government minister has suggested that the rumoured change from PCR testing to lateral flow testing for fully vaccinated travellers could hinder the tracking of variants.

Asked whether PCR tests could be scrapped in favour of lateral flow tests for foreign travellers, Environment Secretary George Eustice said: “I haven’t heard that because I’m not on that particular sub-committee that deals with this.

“They will want to consider all the evidence before taking a final decision.

“The rationale for the PCR test is that you can do genome sequencing of variants and you can, therefore, detect possible variants of concern.

“The difficulty with the lateral flow test, although it is cheaper and simpler to do, it is not able to pick up those variants.

“So, that’s the rationale and that’s been the rationale so far for making sure we keep some of that PCR testing in place.”

Mr Eustice said that Health Secretary Sajid Javid, while he did not want “unnecessary” testing taking place, he “recognises the value of those PCR tests and that there “is a discussion to be had about this” in government.

Travellers who have not had both doses of the Covid-19 vaccine could face stricter quarantine rules when coming into the UK from any country, reports suggest.

The Telegraph is reporting that all arrivals who have not had two doses of the vaccine at least two weeks prior to entering the UK will have to quarantine for up to 10 days, regardless of where they have been.

This would include countries on the green list, the paper says, although it does not disclose a source.

Ministers are insisting no final decision has been taken on changes to the travel restriction framework. The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, is expected to make an announcement this afternoon.

Read Simon Calder’s predictions for the changes to be announced today:

A leading travel industry figure has demanded that the government ease its “onerous, unnecessary restrictions” on holidays abroad.

Julia Lo Bue-Said, chief executive of the Advantage Travel Partnership, told The Independent: “Let’s hope the government does the right thing and ensures those that want and need to travel can do so freely without the need for onerous, unnecessary restrictions which are no longer about a public health measure but merely a show of being see to do something to appease the public.

“Just ask the government about the many exemptions to testing they have in place. Data analysing international arrivals test positivity rate for the three weeks ending 1 September showed a positivity rate from all countries (including red list) of below one per cent compared with 4.27 per cent in the UK.

“If the government continues to restrict travel to low risk countries for the fully vaccinated – which is at odds with the rest of Europe – then they need to ensure the travel industry including travel agents are given government support to help them keep hold of their businesses, jobs and livelihoods.”

Holidaymakers at Newcastle airport have been expressing their frustration at the tangle of red tape surrounding overseas trips – which the government may finally ease in an announcement now expected this afternoon.

Norman Smith, a company director, is about to fly off on his first holiday for two years: a week in Benidorm.

“We’re normally fairly seasoned travellers, three or four journeys a year. It’s all about Covid,” said Smith.

“Booking the trip was fairly simple, as usual. However the red tape really comes across as someone’s making a lot of money for things that really we don’t need to do.

“As an example, we’ve got a test we’ve brought with us. We do the test ourselves and then they send us a form back to say we’ve complete the test.

In anticipation of the UK’s travel update later today – which, it is suggested, will lay out different rules for vaccinated and unvaccinated travellers – flight booking platform Skyscanner has updated its interactive map tool which shows the different restrictions for those who have and have not had their jabs.

“Since its launch last summer, Skyscanner’s live travel map has been used over 34 million times to help travellers negotiate the complexities of Covid-19 restrictions. Its latest refresh will let vaccinated travellers see how the latest rules and regulations will affect their travel,” read a statement from the flight price aggregator.

Users of the map can select their vaccination status to see which countries have low, moderate or major restrictions for their vaccination status, identified in the traffic light colours of green, yellow and red.

The Department for Transport’s travel update, expected for later today, needs to “deliver to save jobs”, a key industry figure has said.

The PC Agency CEO Paul Charles tweeted: “The lifting of UK travel restrictions and testing rules is more urgent than ever. @jet2tweets today became another airline cancelling more flights and holidays due to further weakening of demand, especially for short breaks. Friday’s announcement needs to deliver to save jobs.”

The travel PR boss has been campaigning for the easing of restrictions for months, citing the impact the UK’s strict rules are having on the industry.

Airline Jet2, along with TUI and easyJet, has cancelled numerous flights into autumn due to the ongoing uncertainly around where UK travellers will be able to go, and what the restrictions will be.