Arrivals from Spain and all its islands are advised to use a PCR test as their pre-departure test wherever possible, as a precaution against the increased prevalence of the virus and variants in the country. UK clinicians and scientists will remain in close contact with their counterparts in Spain to keep abreast of the latest data and picture of cases in Spain.
All changes announced today will come into effect at 4am on Sunday 8 August 2021 in England.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said:
We are committed to opening up international travel safely, taking advantage of the gains we’ve made through our successful vaccination programme, helping connect families, friends and businesses around the world.
While we must continue to be cautious, today’s changes reopen a range of different holiday destinations across the globe, which is good news for both the sector and travelling public.
Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said:
As we learn to live with this virus, we are continuing to take steps to safely reopen international travel based on the latest data and expert public health advice.
The vaccines have already prevented around 60,000 deaths and 22 million infections in England and, with over 7 in 10 adults in the UK now double-jabbed, we are building a wall of defence against the disease.
As well as moving more countries to the green list, today’s announcement also demonstrates the need for continued caution. Further countries have been added to the red list to help protect the success of our vaccine rollout from the threat of new variants.
All classification changes have been decided by ministers, informed by the latest data and analysis by the Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC) and wider public health considerations, to help the public understand the risks to public health of travelling to different destinations. All measures announced today are designed to give travellers and the travel sector more certainty, will be kept under review, and further action may be taken to protect public health.
Since February, anyone who arrives in the UK from a red list country has been required by law to book a stay in a managed quarantine facility for 10 days. In order to ensure taxpayers are not subsidising the costs of staying in these facilities, which have gone up, the cost will increase from Thursday 12 August. Alternative payment arrangements remain available to those who genuinely cannot afford to pay and rates remain the same for children up to 12.
If travelling abroad, you need to take steps to keep safe and prepare in case things change before you go or while you are there. Check the booking terms and conditions on flexibility and refunds, because the situation remains fluid. Many travel firms have changed their terms to be fully flexible. Check and subscribe to FCDO travel advice updates to understand the latest entry requirements and COVID-19 rules – and passengers are advised to check all entry requirements and FCDO travel advice before they book any foreign travel.
3 comments
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Shapps is scientifically illiterate, as is the entire cabinet as far as I can tell. He struggled to distinguish between the words 'specificity' and 'specification' as he trotted out from memory what he thought the advantages of PCR were. Then we hear that the UK Gov bothers to sequence only 5% of the few positives coming in. See Huw Merriman MP's twitter feed on this - we even have UK MPs calling it a scam. In any case, isn't the Spanish government able to track variants within Spain? What a total scam - with VAT on top.
It’s a scam why would you pay for a per test to leave Mallorca when you are going too get ripped off by Uk per test 2 days later
Another case of the UK government leaving something wide open to interpretation, “advises” is not enforcing, people will choose the lesser costing test if it will save a few hundred euro dependant on travelling party size. Of course they will choose the cheaper test, and why shouldn’t they when they are taking a PCR test on day 2 and the loop hole is there to be used Why could they not of just changed it if it is so crucial and take the wiggle room away This is not a devils advocate comment, I don’t want to be in the firing line, just frustrated at a lack of direction again from uk government