The UK “red list” and hotel quarantine for foreign travel have been effectively shelved after all seven remaining countries were removed.
Ministers decided today to remove Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Haiti, Panama, Peru and Venezuela from the list.
The move will come into effect at 4am on Monday 1 November in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
It means mandatory 11-night, £2.285-a-head hotel quarantine will finally be paused for the first time since it was controversially launched in February.
But Downing Street emphasised the red list itself has not been scrapped - meaning countries could be added back onto it ay any time if the situation worsens.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps added: "We will keep the red list category in place as a precautionary measure to protect public health and are prepared to add countries and territories back if needed, as the UK’s first line of defence."
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The UK government has cut its number of quarantine hotel rooms but some will remain “on standby” in case countries are added to the red list in future.
Reviews of the red list will continue to take place every three weeks.
The Department for Transport said: “We will impose restrictions should there be a need to do so to protect public health.”
Separately, 35 new countries' vaccine programmes will be recognised for travel to the UK from Monday, including those of Peru and Uganda.
Mr Shapps said that would bring the total number of countries whose vaccines are recognised for travel to the UK to about 135.
The 35 new countries are Angola, Anguilla, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belize, Bermuda, Botswana, Cambodia, Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Djibouti, Eswatini, Gibraltar, Guyana, Honduras, Lebanon, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mongolia, Nepal, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Panama, Peru, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Uganda and Uruguay.
The last major travel update on October 11 cut the red list down from 54 countries to seven, removing South Africa, Mexico, Brazil, Thailand and Indonesia.
A wider overhaul of UK travel rules came into force earlier this month, with the amber and green lists being scrapped in favour of just two lists - the red list and 'rest of the world'.
Travel from red list countries is banned unless people have residence or nationality rights in the UK, in which case they can come but must stay in a quarantine hotel.
For people coming from the rest of the world to England, there are two sets of rules depending on vaccination status.
Children and fully-vaccinated adults arriving from the rest of the world - as long as the UK recognises their vaccine - now only have to take one test, a ‘Day 2’ lateral flow after landing.
There’s no need to isolate, and no need to take a “pre-departure” test before flying.
Unvaccinated or partially-vaccinated arrivals from the rest of the world must take three tests - a pre-departure test, plus a ‘Day 2’ and ‘Day 8’ PCR test after landing.
They must also isolate for 10 days at home or wherever they’re staying, unless they pay for a fourth ‘test to release’ test to leave isolation early.
