The UK government has updated the official travel advisory for 47 countries. Britain has updated its advisory for all travel except essential travel on public health grounds, lifting COVID-19 restrictions from 47 countries including South Africa, Brazil and Mexico. Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, Haiti and the Dominican Republic still remain on the Red List.
The British government’s update on international travel is now described as a simplified system and has also reduced testing requirements for fully vaccinated travellers.
Vaccinated passengers traveling from these non-redlisted places will only need to take two tests a day upon arrival in England.
Those arriving from a ‘rest of the world’ destination who do not have authorized vaccines will still have to complete pre-departure testing, a Day 2 and Day 8 test, and 10 days of self-isolation.
Fully vaccinated travelers, including travelers under the age of 18 returning from the rest of the world, will have the option of replacing their second day test with a cheaper lateral flow test, followed by a free PCR test positive.
Although the government has not given any date yet, this new rule will be applicable. He has said it will happen sometime in ‘end of October’.
The government has also confirmed that passengers taking the postal test will be able to send a photo of their lateral flow test to give their test results. Till now the test had to be sent to the post only.
The UK government has previously updated its advisory for all travel except essential travel on public health grounds, lifting COVID-19 restrictions from 32 countries, including Bangladesh and Malaysia.
India is not included in the list of these countries with complete travel ban. Fully vaccinated Indians are yet to benefit from this new system as talks are on to include India in the list of vaccinated countries.
UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said the change in these rules would make it easier to travel in the UK. This will benefit businesses and families. Through this, more people will get a chance to meet friends and loved ones.
He said that we are striking the right balance between keeping people safe, which remains our priority, and while supporting the travel sector, we are giving them the freedom to take personal responsibility as the situation is getting better now.