People who are fully vaccinated from the EU and US will not need to quarantine when arriving in England from 4.00am on Monday 2nd August, as announced by the UK Minister of Transport, Grant Shapps. Currently, people who have been fully vaccinated in the UK do not have to isolate when travelling from countries on the amber list (except from France), but that exemption did not apply to people vaccinated outside the UK much to the annoyance of tens of thousands of expats across Europe.
Grant Shapps said it will apply to people who have been fully vaccinated with a jab approved by the EU or US - although travellers will still need to take tests before they arrive and on the second day after they land, but this means that expats in Europe, including the Canary Islands, will be able to use their EU Digital Covid Certificate to enter England without quarantine.
The government's Covid Operations committee met earlier today and made this decision, and it has since been confirmed that it is coming into force on Monday, however, it is not yet known whether or not the other UK nations will adopt the rule change.
Earlier, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said talks on travel were taking place between the four nations, and the travel industry has been pushing for the change in the rules so that people living abroad can come to the UK for holidays or to visit loved ones more easily.
"At the moment we're in this slightly ridiculous situation where if I'm on a plane from Spain, because I'm lucky enough to have had two jabs, once we get to the UK I just wander off, no problem," said travel expert Simon Calder. "But the person sitting next to me, who happens to have had their vaccinations in Spain, and not in the UK, has to go and sit in a room for 10 days. It doesn't make sense."
However, although they will be able to avoid quarantine in England, US citizens are urged not to travel to the UK by their country's health protection agency, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, and the US border is currently closed to the UK, as well as many other countries, except for US citizens.
The UK and US have set up a taskforce to discuss a travel corridor, although earlier this week the White House said it had no plans to lift Covid-19 travel restrictions for non-Americans.
