The latest review of the travel traffic light system has been announced by the government as people desperately try to salvage a last minute summer holiday abroad.
But the aviation industry has blasted Boris Johnson’s latest update of the travel restrictions as a “missed opportunity”.
It comes as ministers cleared the way for thousands of British families to visit France quarantine-free this summer but moved only a handful of countries onto the lowest risk category.
And airlines lamented the decision not to ease requirements for expensive PCR coronavirus tests for arrivals in the UK, which has been condemned as a “£100-a-head tax on flights” by the industry.
So what has actually changed?
From 4am on Sunday, the whole of mainland France moves onto the amber list, requiring self-isolation at home on return only for unvaccinated adults, while the Indian Ocean islands of La Reunion and Mayotte join the highest-risk red category, with all arrivals going into hotel quarantine.
Transport secretary Grant Shapps moved Germany and six other European countries onto the quarantine-free green list. And he gave a reprieve to popular holiday destinations Spain, Italy and Greece, leaving them on the amber list despite fears they could move onto red, which would have forced a scramble to return home by Brits currently soaking up the Mediterranean sun.
Alongside Germany and Austria, little-visited European nations Slovenia, Slovakia, Latvia, Romania and Norway were moved onto the green list. And a decline in coronavirus cases allowed India, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates – including Dubai and Abu Dhabi – to be switched from red to amber.
So join me this evening as I try to make sense of all those changes and what it might mean for you and your travels.
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