The UK Government could scrap the traffic light system for international travel within weeks, it has been reported.
It is expected that the green and amber lists will be ditched in the new system which will favour vaccination status of travellers rather than the Covid rating of countries.
The Telegraph reports that the red list will continue, meaning that hotel quarantine measures will remain in place for travellers returning from high risk areas.
Government officials hope that the new system will ‘simplify’ holidays for people travelling out of the country from the UK.
Currently, anyone arriving from a green list country is not required to self-isolate on their return to Scotland and the rest of Britain.
The same rules also apply to fully vaccinated passengers arriving from amber list countries. However, travellers awaiting either their first or second doses of vaccine must self-isolate for at least 10 days.
A source, that is said to have been briefed on the proposal, told The Telegraph newspaper: “It’s about whether you are vaccinated or not, rather than the country you are travelling to.
“What it means is that green and amber disappear and only vaccination status will count for where you travel. For a vaccinated person, just as now all countries apart from red are ‘green’.
“For an unvaccinated person, it means that your travel to a green country might be slightly more difficult. There’s a potential psychological boost in that a lot of people think travel to amber is risky whereas if it disappeared, people may be more willing to travel to X, Y or Z.”
The Scottish Government has regularly followed the UK Government in implementing policy on international travel as part of a four-nations approach.
It remains unclear if any changes to the policy will definitely apply north of the border.
The UK Government is expected to announce the details of its review on the traffic light system by October 1.
Nicola Sturgeon previously aimed for all Scots adults to be fully vaccinated by the middle of this month.
A spokesperson for the Scottish Government said: “The international travel restrictions plays a significant role in safeguarding public health and the regulations are reviewed regularly. Throughout the COVID19 period we have always aimed to come to a four nations position on border health measures wherever possible.”
