The requirement for red list arrivals to spend 11 nights at a pricey hotel quarantine facility instead of isolating at home could soon come to an end, the Prime Minister has suggested.
At Wednesday’s Downing Street news conference, a member of the public – Rachel from Essex – asked: “Why can’t fully vaccinated British travellers stuck in red listed countries self-isolate at home when they return instead of a hotel?
“Quarantine hotels are too expensive especially as this was implemented at short notice, not giving travellers a chance to get home,” she said.
Boris Johnson responded: “I think that’s a very fair challenge, given the way omicron’s now seeded around the world and not just in red listed countries, we will be looking at the red list and the way that we do it.”
The health secretary similarly suggested that travel restrictions could be scrapped if omicron becomes the dominant variant.
Speaking in Parliament earlier this week, Sajid Javid said that as omicron becomes dominant, all international travel restrictions could end “very soon”.
Meanwhile, the EU is expected to introduce a nine-month expiry date for Covid passes for travel, two EU sources told Reuters.
If applied, EU citizens wanting to travel freely next summer across the bloc would need a booster shot.
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