Good Morning Britain’s Dr Hilary Jones has urged holidaymakers to consider the local coronavirus situation at the place they are visiting before committing to travelling abroad this year.
The show’s health editor discussed the questions people should be asking before going on a foreign holiday, with hosts Susanna Reid and Ranvir Singh.
Going on holiday abroad is currently illegal, with people leaving England without a valid reason now facing a £5,000 fine.
Under the current government ‘roadmap’ out of lockdown, May 17 is the earliest date that international travel may resume.
Dr Hilary told viewers to research the public health situation in the country they are hoping to visit, before booking and committing yourself to travelling.
"When people think about holidays they need to think about various things. Firstly, what's the situation like in the destination they're going into?,” he said.
"We know, for example, that going into most European countries that the vaccination schedules have only reached about 15% of their population.”
He added that social distancing measures and mask wearing could put a dampener on the holiday experience.
“We know that there has been mask wearing. So it won't be the same experience that we will remember before the pandemic,” he said.
Susanna Reid agreed that it could be ‘a very sensitive situation’.
"It’s very similar to France - not on our red list, but 40,000 infections a day and 4,000 people in intensive care,” she said.
"I mean, their numbers are way worse than ours.
“For people wanting to go on holiday in France, where they haven't got the same rates of vaccination, that feels like a risky thing for us to do and a risky thing for them to do."
Dr Hilary responded: "For sure. There are A&E doctors in France having to decide who gets a ventilator right now.
“They're making decisions like, 'do we treat this one or do we treat that one? Because we can't treat both.'
"Because they haven't got the ITU beds. Now that's a very serious situation and it's getting worse. It's going to be worse in France in April."
"You wouldn't want to catch it and land in hospital over there," Ranvir pointed out.
Dr Hilary responded: "Exactly."
Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said the prospect of foreign holidays has not been completely ruled out this summer.
“The door is not shut, it’s just too early to say,” he told ITV’s This Morning earlier this week.
However Professor Sir Mark Walport, a former Government chief scientific adviser, was among the experts continuing to urge caution.
“Certainly at the moment, many countries in Europe have got case numbers that are going up – there is 36,000 cases a day in France, 16,000 in Germany, 22,000 in Italy,” he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.
“The numbers speak for themselves.”
GMB is broadcast every morning from 6am on ITV, and can be watched on catch-up on the ITV Hub.
