Only seven countries will remain on the UK’s travel red list from next Monday.
A total of 47 of the 54-strong list will be bumped up to the “rest of world” (ROW) list from 4am on Monday 11 October, including Mexico, Thailand and the entirety of Africa, the Department for Transport (DfT) announced yesterday afternoon.
The countries left on the red list will be Colombia, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Panama, Peru and Venezuela.
The Scottish government last night confirmed that the changes had been agreed on a four-nation basis, but its transport minister said the nation “will not hesitate to reintroduce restrictions” if the Covid situation deteriorates.
While Mr Shapps labelled the move a “major step forward”, some in the travel industry have called for greater clarification on what new post-arrival testing requirements will look like when the change takes effect.
A UK government source told the BBC ministers were aiming to replace the so-called “day two” PCR test on arrival with a cheaper lateral flow test by the half-term break, which for many schools in England falls in the last week of October. But they said the government was still working on a date for when the new testing rule would be introduced.
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