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Holidaymakers in England will be able to travel to 12 countries and territories, including Portugal, Gibraltar and Israel, without having to quarantine on return under new rules that will enter into force on May 17.
Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Brunei, Iceland, the Faroe Islands and the Falkland Islands are also included on the government’s “green list,” announced on Friday by British Transport Minister Grant Shapps.
“We must make absolutely sure that the countries we reconnect with are safe,” he said.
Tourists traveling to green list areas are still required to take two PCR tests, one before their return to the U.K., and one within two days of arrival in the U.K.
The U.K. government has also added three new countries — Turkey, Maldives and Nepal — to its “red list,” meaning a hotel quarantine is required for anyone returning from those countries under its traffic light system.
Quarantine at home, as well as “stringent” testing is required for anyone returning from “amber” destinations, although the Department for Transport said that people should not be traveling to countries rated amber or red for leisure.
Shapps said the U.K. had to be “necessarily cautious” with the number of countries on the green list to avoid undermining progress made by Britain’s vaccine rollout. That means popular holiday destinations such as France, Spain and Greece have been excluded from the list, but the situation will be reviewed every three weeks, according to Shapps.
The rules don’t apply to travelers in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.
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