Red list countries will be removed – confirmed
The remaining seven countries on the government’s travel red list will be removed from it. This means with no countries on the red list, no one entering the UK should have to isolate in a hotel. This could mean we see Heathrow’s Terminal 4 reopening as demand rises since it was only being used for red list arrivals.
The seven countries on the red list are Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Haiti, Panama, Peru and Venezuela and will be taken off the list, which will leave no countries left in the red category. The exact date of removal will be 4am on Monday 1 November.
It was predicted by some news outlets that the list would be scrapped entirely or at least the need for hotel quarantine. However, it looks like the government is retaining the concept of the red list should it be needed again. The government said
Red list and quarantine hotels will continue to operate as the UK’s first defence against incoming variants of concern (VOC), with reviews taking place every 3 weeks.
As Delta has become the dominant strain around the world it has removed the need for the red list over variants of concern. The government will keep a small number of hotel rooms on standby in case it needed to be revived.
I understand keeping the red list in the background in that you don’t want to have to come up with another scheme should there be a vaccine evading new variant that pops up in the future. This is the only time we should be using hotel quarantine in my opinion.
UK joins EU Covid Pass
The United Kingdom has become part of the EU Digital COVID-19 Certificate System today, 28 October, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
The EU pass can be used to show status for those who have been vaccinated against COVID-19, those who have recovered from the virus, and those who test and result negative. This means that the UK’s NHS app should be accepted by all EU stats, although many already do.
“Good news for travellers to the UK and Armenia! Today, we adopted two new decisions certifying that COVID-19 certificates issued by these two countries are equivalent to the EU Digital COVID Certificate,” the EU Commission tweeted today.
The move means that the COVID-19 certificates issued by the UK will be recognised the same as EU Digital COVID Certificates from tomorrow. This should mean that we can use NHS Covid passes to get into bars and restaurants in country that have a Covid passport scheme and accept the EU passport.
7 comments
Typo – “4am on Monday 1 October” should be 1 November.
Michelle, under the red list countries – did you mean 1st November?
On the EU Covid Pass, thank goodness sense has prevailed and we can stop having work arounds which while OK are something we shouldn’t need to be bothered with. Great news.
Yes fixed.
Great – heading to Geneva in 10 days so hopefully means don’t need any Swiss style pass now?
You should assume so since they say they accept the EU Covid pass.
Are you kidding me??? You think these cOViD passports are for good? It’s the start of a social credit system where you will be monitored and controlled, just like in China. And all you people are sleepwalking into digital slavery
Yes because they need a complex costly system rather than just looking at your facebook or twitter feeds
Comments are closed.