UK Travel Rules Have Changed: Simplified Travel Rules

British holidaymakers have had to adapt to many new travel rules since the summer during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since May this year, travellers have had to adhere to the government's travel traffic light system, which regularly changed according to which countries were safe to visit. But a major shake-up announced a few weeks ago has come into force today.

Under the changes, which came into force on 04 October, the green and amber lists have been scrapped and have been replaced with one red list only.

Changes on the UK Travel Rules

Individuals who are fully vaccinated “won't need a pre-departure test before arrival into England from a non-red country,” said the transport secretary.

Travellers still need a day two test after their arrival. But at the end of October, they will be able to replace their day-two PCR test – which can be rather expensive for families – with a cheaper lateral flow test.

Fully vaccinated travellers already do not need a day-eight, post-arrival PCR test.

Those who are unvaccinated still need to take the pre-departure test for travelling into England, and still have to purchase a PCR for their day-two test.

And they also still have to quarantine for 10 days, regardless of where they arrive from.

Travel From Red List

Anyone returning from a red list country is still required to pay £2,285 to quarantine for 10 days and 11 nights at a government-approved hotel.

According to Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, red list countries are “those which should not be visited except in the most extreme of circumstances”.

The next announcement is expected to take place later this week. Rumours have circulated that the list will be slashed to a much smaller number of countries, but this has yet to be confirmed by the government.

Countries on the Red List

Afghanistan
Angola
Argentina
Bolivia
Botswana
Brazil
Burundi
Cape Verde
Chile
Colombia
Costa Rica
Cuba
Democratic Republic of Congo
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
Eritrea
Eswatini
Ethiopia

French Guiana
Georgia
Guyana
Haiti
Indonesia
La Réunion
Lesotho
Malawi
Mayotte
Mexico
Mongolia
Montenegro
Mozambique
Myanmar
Namibia
Nepal
Panama
Paraguay

Peru
Philippines
Rwanda
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Somalia
South Africa
Sudan
Suriname
Tanzania
Thailand
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Uganda
Uruguay
Venezuela
Zambia
Zimbabwe

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