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LONDON (Reuters) – The UK will consider relaxing England’s COVID-19 rules on international travel on Friday after the travel industry complained that a host of onerous rules and red tape are hindering airlines, vacation and tourism businesses.
To slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, the UK has a maze of different rules that require expensive private testing and quarantine, and a so-called traffic light system that classifies travel destinations in green, yellow and red.
“The Cabinet COVID subcommittee that decides these things will likely consider this today,” Agriculture Secretary George Eustice told Sky News.
The UK travel industry has called on the government to ease travel restrictions, offer companies cheaper testing and give double vaccinated people more freedom.
Tourists and ministers have complained about the prices travelers are charged for mandatory private COVID-19 tests – which are listed at around £ 50 but can go as high as £ 399, according to current lists.
Ministers will reduce the number of countries on the “red list†– currently 62 – by removing the “yellow list†and those who are double vaccinated will no longer have to pay for expensive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, reported the Times newspaper.
For those returning from red list countries, quarantine hotels are expected to stay in place, the newspaper said.
($ 1 = 0.7247 pounds)
(Reporting by Costas Pitas; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Sarah Young)
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