Some 47 destinations including South Africa will be removed from England’s red list on Monday, Grant Shapps has announced.
The Transport Secretary explained in series of tweets that from 4am on October 11, only seven countries and territories will remain on the red list.
This will include Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Haiti, Panama, Peru and Venezuela, the Department for Transport said.
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Passengers returning to England from the 47 destinations that are to be moved to the 'rest of the world' list, which also includes Mexico and Thailand, will no longer be required to enter hotel quarantine.
The government will also extend the inbound vaccinated arrivals system to a further 37 countries and territories across the globe - including India, South Africa and Turkey - meaning eligible passengers arriving from rest of world countries only need to take a day two test in England.
And it said passengers will be able to send a picture of their lateral flow test as a minimum requirement to verify test result accuracy and keep prices down once day two tests switch to lateral flow later this month, followed by a free PCR test if positive.
Mr Shapps tweeted on Thursday: "From Monday (11th Oct) I’ll be cutting 47 destinations from our red list – including South Africa, with just 7 countries and territories remaining - all others will be included in the “rest of world” category.
"I'm also making changes so travellers visiting England have fewer entry requirements, by recognising those with fully-vax status from 37 new countries and territories including India, Turkey and Ghana, treating them the same as UK fully vax passengers.
"The measures announced today mark the next step as we continue to open up travel and provide stability for passengers and industry while remaining on track to keep travel open for good."
