Could Holidaymakers With Both Jabs Avoid Amber List Quarantine?
British holidaymakers who have had both doses of a Covid vaccine may not have to quarantine upon arrival back to the UK after vacationing in amber list destinations such as Portugal if a plan to loosen travel restrictions is approved. Changes are being considered to the traffic light system under which places are graded according to their Covid case and jab rate, determining whether and how people coming from them must isolate, The Guardian reported on June 17. It is hoped that the new rules would encourage people to get both shots sooner rather than later. -- ADVERTISEMENT --    Former prime minister Theresa May is among those who have criticised the governments handling of travel restrictions. We are falling behind the rest of Europe in our decisions to open up. Its incomprehensible that one of the most heavily vaccinated countries in the world is one that is most reluctant to give its citizens the freedoms those vaccinations should support, she said last week. Travel industry bosses have been more direct about the impact on the sector and holidaymakers. Ryanairs chief executive, Michael OLeary, said on June 16, The UKs Covid travel policy is a shambles. The green list is non-existent because countries such as Malta and Portugal, with lower Covid case numbers than the UK and rapidly rising vaccination rates, remain on amber. Meanwhile, UK citizens, almost 80 per cent of whom will be vaccinated by the end of June, continue to face Covid restrictions on travel to and from the European Union  despite the fact that the majority of EU citizens will also be vaccinated by the end of June.  The Ryanair chief was speaking a day after calling for Air Passenger Duty to be suspended for several years to help the travel industry recover from the crisis. This will at least allow the UK tourism industry to plan for what is left of the summer season and get hundreds of thousands of people back to work, he said. It is time for Boris Johnson to end his gross mismanagement of Covid and the recovery from Covid, and take advantage of the UKs successful vaccine programme to allow the restoration of free movement of vaccinated UK citizens and their families to and from the EU, where Covid case rates are lower than the UK and vaccination rates are rising rapidly, he added. Thank you for reading, and dont forget to check The Euro Weekly News for all your up-to-date local and international news stories.