Demonstrators gather at Piccadilly Circus calling for nightclubs to reopen during a Save Our Scene protest, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in London, Britain June 27, 2021. REUTERS FILE PHOTO
LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris
Johnson will open up more countries for hotel quarantine-free
travel later this week, The Sunday Telegraph reported, saying
that the UK’s “red list” of destinations would be slashed to
nine from 54.
Fully vaccinated arrivals from countries including South
Africa, Brazil, Mexico and Indonesia will no longer have to
quarantine in a government-designated hotel for 10 days when
they get to England from later in October, the newspaper said.
The changes are set to be announced on Thursday, and will
likely result in a surge of bookings, boosting airlines and
travel companies that have been brought to their knees during
the pandemic.
The country’s hotel quarantine policy for higher risk
countries costs 2,285 pounds ($3,095) per adult, deterring
global travel.
Britain is already planning to relax its travel rules from
Oct. 4 by scrapping its amber list for medium risk destinations
and no longer requiring fully vaccinated passengers to take a
COVID-19 test before they arrive in the country from places not
on the red list.
The government has said that from later in October, arrivals
in England will no longer have to take a PCR test two days after
arrival and can instead opt for the cheaper lateral flow test.
($1 = 0.7383 pounds)