BORIS Johnson is set to allow travellers from the US and Europe who’ve been double jabbed into the UK without having to quarantine.
The move represents a major re-opening up of international travel and is a boost for badly hit UK tourism, while also allowing millions to be reunited with loved ones.
Senior ministers are poised to sign off plans to allow US citizens who have vaccine cards and those from the EU countries who have ‘green pass’ to enter the UK.
The new rules will apply to citizens of those nations arriving from amber list countries and they will no longer have to self-isolate for 10 days, The Times reports.
It comes as Covid cases have now been falling for a seventh day in a row.
SKIP QUARANTINE
Boris Johnson is said to have become increasingly concerned the EU is now further ahead than the UK on enabling international travel and believes the UK risks “squandering its vaccine bonus”.
Currently only those who have been jabbed by NHS are eligible for a “Covid pass” allowing them to the 10 day self-isolation period coming from an amber-list country.
The UK economy is losing £639 million a day because of the squeeze on foreign tourists, research has shown.
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The decision follows by a trial by Heathrow airport, BA and Virgin to address concerns over the complexities of different US states’ paper and digital certificates.
In a bid to avoid long queues at passport control, airlines will be responsible for checking each travellers vaccine status.
It was found the practical difficulties of verifying the vaccination status of travellers was overcome in 99 per cent of cases.
The new measures for EU and US travellers will initially only apply to England thought the devolved regions are set to follow suit.
GREEN LIST EXTENDED
Meanwhile, ten countries including Italy, Germany and Canada are poised to be added to the green list next week, allowing quarantine-free travel regardless of vaccination status.
France is likely to be moved from the “amber plus” list, which requires all holidaymakers to quarantine on their return to the UK, to the amber list.
Due to concerns over the beta variant, France was placed in this new category which means quarantine remains mandatory when returning from the country, even if fully vaccinated.
Spain and Greece are likely to stay off the amber plus list next month, despite fears they could be slapped with new measures.
Ministers also are set to sign off plans that would see Britons who have been fully vaccinated in the US and EU the same as UK residents.
It follows criticism from ex-pats of announcement by vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi that allows Brits jabbed abroad but with a UK GP to have double doses recognised.
The moved benefits only a limited number of people as only a small number of ex-pats are allowed to maintain a UK GP.
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