The traffic light travel system is set to be scrapped next month as the Government aims to simply the rules, with Transport Secretary Grant Shapps having announced that the traffic light system will come to an end on October 4.
From that date, countries will either be put on a red list or 'safe to travel' list, meaning there are still plenty of restrictions if you're heading to one of the 54 countries set to remain on the red list.
The red list will now consist of countries which are deemed to pose a "significant concern" in terms of Covid variants.
Before the rule change comes into effect in October, Mr Shapps revealed that eight countries would be taken off the red list yesterday (September 22), bringing the total number down from 62 to 54.
Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt, Kenya, the Maldives, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Oman were all removed, and the 54 remaining red list countries will still be classed as out of bounds for holidaymakers.
They'll also need to quarantine in a government-managed hotel for the mandatory 11 nights, at a cost of £2,285 per person.
The red list in full
This is the full list of red-list countries after yesterday's changes.
- Afghanistan
- Angola
- Argentina
- Bolivia
- Botswana
- Brazil
- Burundi
- Cape Verde
- Chile
- Colombia
- Congo (Democratic Republic)
- Costa Rica
- Cuba
- Dominican Republic
- Ecuador
- Eritrea
- Eswatini
- Ethiopia
- French Guiana
- Georgia
- Guyana
- Haiti
- Indonesia
- Lesotho
- Malawi
- Mayotte
- Mexico
- Mongolia
- Montenegro
- Mozambique
- Myanmar
- Namibia
- Nepal
- Panama
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Philippines
- Réunion
- Rwanda
- Seychelles
- Sierra Leone
- Somalia
- South Africa
- Sudan
- Suriname
- Tanzania
- Thailand
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Tunisia
- Uganda
- Uruguay
- Venezuela
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
In addition to this, the UK Government recently also announced that for anyone travelling to and from England, it intends to change the requirements on taking tests before and after international travel. The FM however said that "Scotland - like Wales and Northern Ireland – has not yet taken a final decision on this, though we will do so within the next couple of days."
