Coronavirus rates in holiday hotspots paint a gloomy picture for those wanting to get away this summer.
Last night Brits looking to book a holiday abroad after months of miserable lockdown were dealt a body-blow as the latest traffic light system update was given.
Portugal was removed from the travel green list just three weeks after it had been added, sparking a rush to get home for those already out there.
Now travel from the UK is only allowed to 11 countries and territories, but that was already the case - and many of them still force Brits to isolate at their end.
While travel to amber list countries is legal, passengers are less protected when booking flights as the Foreign Office advises against heading to many of them.
As grey clouds form across the UK today after the year's first week of summer sun, holiday-hungry eyes will begin to turn to the next traffic light update, expected in about three weeks.
As much as a lot of favoured destinations currently have poor jab and Covid case rates, Portugal's re-categorisation shows that everything can change in a few short days.
It isn't ministers that are in charge of deciding what countries are classified as but the Joint Biosecurity centre, which looks at a variety of factors including variants in the country, coronavirus case and vaccine rates.
How good a country is at genomic sequencing and how good its overall data is are also taken into account.
The big factors remain the coronavirus and vaccine rate however, which can be directly compared to other countries in the same or different traffic light categorisation.
As of yesterday, when its turn from green to amber was announced, Portugal had a seven-day case rate of 37.2/100,000 - having risen sharply by more than 20 per cent within the past week.
A total of 38 per cent of its population had received at least one Covid jab.
If comparing just case and vaccination rates, then two of Europe's big holiday hotspots are not looking like they'll be turned amber anytime soon.
Greece currently has a coronavirus rate of 97.4 and 35 per cent jabbed once, while Spain 's rate is 63.4 and 39 per cent vaccinated.
France doesn't look to be a good bet for those looking to book a holiday anytime soon.
Our Gallic neighbour's coronavirus rate sits at 82.7, with 39 per cent of people having had a first jab.
All of these favour destinations have worse numbers than the UK, where the coronavirus rate is 33.7 and where just shy of 40 million out of 65 million people have had a first jab,
Italy , which was one of the first European countries to suffer from the first coronavirus wave, now has figures that are slightly more promising.
It has a Covid rate of 35.5, while two out of every five people have had a first dose.
Another holiday hotspot with slightly better coronavirus case figures than the UK is Monaco , with a rate of 13.1 and an overall jab rate of 38 per cent.
Those truly desperate to get away may be better plumping for a country less regularly visited by Brits.
At the moment Slovakia has a coronavirus and jab rate of 14.9 and 33 per cent respectively, compared to 11 and 11 per cent for North Macedonia .
Malta , which had been tipped for the green list, remains amber, despite a coronavirus rate of 7.5 and 64 per cent of people having had a first dose.
As things currently stand, this is the traffic light system 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
