London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Jul 21, 2025

Fully vaccinated UK arrivals from France will not need to quarantine

Fully vaccinated UK arrivals from France will not need to quarantine

Ministers ditch plans for watchlist of amber countries such as Spain

Millions of Britons have been given the green light to travel to Europe’s holiday hotspots, avoiding quarantine on return from France and Spain where concerns have been raised about Covid variants.

Ministers announced on Wednesday that fully vaccinated holidaymakers returning from France would no longer need to quarantine and ditched plans for a “watchlist” of amber countries such as Spain.

The move is likely to partially revive the struggling tourism sector but will raise questions about whether the government is being complacent about the spread of the Beta variant.

The decision to abandon plans for a watchlist under pressure from mutinous cabinet ministers will also put UK tourists at risk of having their plans aborted without any notice, raising the spectre of a repeat of last summer’s chaotic travel corridors.

Under-18s and those fully jabbed in the UK are now exempt from quarantine, as well as those who have been vaccinated in the EU and US.


Boris Johnson signed off the deal under pressure from his chancellor, Rishi Sunak, who had declared the UK was lagging behind vaccinated nations.

The move will also end a tense diplomatic situation over the additional quarantine measures for France, to which senior politicians in Paris had vociferously objected.

However, in a final note of caution, the government has warned there are still concerns about Spain, the most popular summer destination for British tourists, and said it would keep the country under close watch.

Concerns had grown that the UK would not have hotel capacity for hundreds of thousands of people returning from Spain if it was forced on to the red list, which requires quarantine in a supervised facility. Even during last year’s disrupted travel season, at least 3.2 million Brits travelled to Spain.

Arrivals from Spain, including all its islands, will now be advised to use a PCR test as their pre-departure test wherever possible, a move that could be a prelude to tighter restrictions.

Government sources said British tourists should travel to Spain and that the latest advice suggested the risk was not high enough to merit a move to the red list. Another review would take place in three weeks. “The message is that it is fine to go,” one Whitehall source said.

The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) said tourists heading back from Spain were being requested to take a PCR test because of the risk of importing the B.1.621 and Beta variants. It said using PCR tests would allow the results to be genomically sequenced, so variants of concern could be detected. Preliminary studies have suggested vaccines may be less effective against the variant, though they should still prevent the most severe illness.


The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, said the new rules were reopening a significant number of new travel destinations. “While we must continue to be cautious, today’s changes reopen a range of different holiday destinations across the globe, which is good news for both the sector and travelling public,” he said.

The government also announced a hefty increase in the cost of hotel quarantine to £2,285 for a single adult arriving from a red list country, a rise of more than £500, which the government said would cover increased costs.

A number of key destinations as well as international travel hubs will be removed from the red list – India, Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE. India’s placement on the red list was the subject of substantial controversy after MPs accused Boris Johnson of delaying its inclusion in the spring as cases rapidly rose and the new Delta variant emerged.

Mexico, Georgia, Réunion and Mayotte are to be added to the red list. More countries will also be added to the green list where travellers can go regardless of vaccine status. New green list countries are Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Slovakia, Latvia, Romania and Norway. All changes come into effect at 4am on Sunday 8 August in England.

The health secretary, Sajid Javid, said there was still a need for caution by adding countries to the red list “to help protect the success of our vaccine rollout from the threat of new variants.”.

Georgia and Mexico have been added to the red list due to increasing case rates in the country and positive cases of those travelling to the UK, as well as concern in Mexico about the presence of the B.1.621 variant first identified in Colombia. In Réunion and Mayotte there is concern about the high prevalence of the Beta variant.

British travellers returning from those countries will face the hefty 30% increase in their hotel quarantine. Prices for children up to 12 remain the same.

Cabinet sources said the amber watchlist plans were killed off by the Treasury, including a leaked letter from Sunak demanding that Johnson open the UK back up to international travel.

Some Whitehall sources have suggested travellers will be worse off without a public watchlist because they will get no warning of the country they are in, or due to travel to, being put on the red list.

The shadow transport secretary, Jim McMahon, said families’ plans would still have been disrupted because of “flip-flopping over France” and said he feared the government had abandoned all caution.

“While everyone wants to see international travel open up, it has to be done safely,” he said. “Ministers must explain to passengers and the industry how they’ve reached these changes with clear information on the direction of travel of infections in each country.

“Ministers need to get a grip and set out a proper strategy, provide full data, and progress work with global partners on international vaccine passports so travellers and the industry can have clarity instead of reckless U-turns and confusion.”

Mark Tanzer, the chief executive of the ABTA travel association, welcomed the changes but called for a greater sense of urgency from the government to get people travelling again.

“The UK is falling behind our European competitors and the opening up of international travel from the UK is progressing at a snail’s pace – making it extremely difficult for travel agents and tour operators to generate enough income to kickstart a recovery, which is desperately needed to protect jobs, businesses and livelihoods.”

Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia, welcomed the moves, saying: “Travel restrictions have never had much success in stopping international spread of an infectious disease. There is evidence that they can delay spread but only really when combined with strict restrictions within the destination country.

“We do not have any restrictions remaining so benefits to us of keeping border controls are marginal. That may change if a rapidly spreading new variant starts to out-compete Delta but so far no evidence for one. I am not so worried about Beta as it seems to struggle whenever Delta is dominant.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
EU Delays Retaliatory Tariffs Amid New U.S. Threats on Imports
Trump Defends Attorney General Pam Bondi Amid Epstein Memo Backlash
Renault Shares Drop as CEO Luca de Meo Announces Departure Amid Reports of Move to Kering
Senior Aides for King Charles and Prince Harry Hold Secret Peace Summit
Anti‑Semitism ‘Normalised’ in Middle‑Class Britain, Says Commission Co‑Chair
King Charles Meets David Beckham at Chelsea Flower Show
If the Department is Really About Justice: Ghislaine Maxwell Should Be Freed Now
NYC Candidate Zohran Mamdani’s ‘Antifada’ Remarks Spark National Debate on Political Language and Economic Policy
×