Europe’s plans to let in unvaccinated Brits for holidays this summer could be put under threat by the rise of the Indian variant.
The European Council today agreed to expand a “whitelist” of nations from which holidaymakers without both doses can travel.
But there are still doubts over whether Britain will make it onto the list - despite passing one of the key tests to get on it.
The Council agreed to raise the cut-off point for whitelist countries from 25 cases per 100,000 to 75 per 100,000. The UK’s rate is around 45 - low enough to make the cut.
However, the Council has also added “variants of interest or concern” to the checklist before a country can be deemed safe.
That could become a sticking point for the UK, where around 3,000 cases of the Indian variant have been found so far.
The whitelist is expected be announced in the coming days and will be reviewed every two weeks.
According to The Times, Britain could be held off the whitelist at first and only added when it is updated in two weeks’ time.
An EU ambassador told the newspaper: “It makes sense to kick the can down the road to see the latest numbers and data to assess whether the surge has levelled off."
Countries will also be checked for the trend of new cases, the number of tests performed, a 4% or lower positivity rate, the overall response to Covid and that country’s approach to EU nationals.
The whitelist is separate to the EU’s plans to let in fully-vaccinated tourists no matter where they’re from, which were also approved by the Council today.
Any changes risk adding even more confusion for Brits, thousands of whom are already planning holidays against UK advice.
Most European countries are still on the UK’s “amber” own list - meaning Brits would have to quarantine when they get home, regardless of what rules apply in the EU.
On top of this, individual EU countries are able to decide their own rules on top of recommendations from the Council.
For example, Portugal is allowing entry to unvaccinated Brits as long as they pass a health screening and go through Covid testing.
It comes as more than a quarter of a million passengers will fly from the UK to "amber list" countries by the weekend – despite ministers' desperate pleas not to travel.
Up to 270,000 people are due to jet to nations such as Spain, Greece and Italy, according to an analysis for The Daily Telegraph.
It found more than 1,300 flights are scheduled to fly to amber list countries in the five days to Sunday at a rate of up to 54,000 passengers daily.
Following days of mixed Government messages, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps urged sunseekers not to jet to amber countries.
He told the BBC: "The amber list and the red list are not for holidaymakers, that's not the purpose of those lists at this time.
“We just think that after a year of lockdowns in this country, of people coming forward in record numbers to get their vaccines, we do not want to be in a position of taking risks at this stage about our unlock."
An amber list country was "not free and open travel" and "we ask people not to go to these places for holidays", he added.
The Cabinet Minister begged Britons to wait longer before jetting off. "Our message is very straightforward, which is, 'Just a little bit of patience, everyone',”,he said. "I know it's been an incredibly tough year and there are extreme circumstance where people will feel that it is the right thing to do – perhaps because they have a sick family member and some extreme situations where they'll travel in the orange category.
“But by and large we are just asking people to be a little bit patient as other countries catch up with our world-leading vaccination programme and then people will be able to, I hope, travel.”
He offered hope that more nations would be deemed safe for quarantine-free travel as the summer marched on.
