UK drops mandatory quarantine for travellers from several countries

The UK will welcome travellers from a number of countries including France without the need for mandatory quarantine

The UK will allow fully vaccinated adults and children to travel to France without needing to quarantine on their return.

Unvaccinated travellers will still need to self-isolate at home for 10 days.

This follows Britain recording almost 28,000 new cases of Covid-19 on Sunday and 39 deaths. Weekly total cases has increased slightly to 1.9%.

Do the changes come too late for the travel industry?

However, Julia Lo Bue-Said from the Advantage Travel Partnership says these most recent changes arrive “too late” to save the summer period and revive a struggling industry. 

“When you think that most businesses are 80% down, you need a huge volume to make up the shortfall they’re experiencing,” she said.

The UK uses a traffic light system for travel rules. The recent changes will also see several other countries in Europe move from amber to green, including Austria and Germany. Georgia and Mexico have moved from amber to red. 

What are the updated UK travel rules?

Reuniting families

One UK woman living in France welcomed the travel changes, saying they mean her parents will be able to meet her six-month-old daughter for the first time.

“We’re so pleased but we daren’t get our hopes up until they’re here,” she said. “They were going to come before but then they introduced the new amber-plus list.”

“My mum has been desperate to see her granddaughter,” she added.