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LONDON (AP) – Britain opened its borders to fully vaccinated travelers from the United States and the European Union on Monday as travel industry executives urged the government to further ease restrictions and to enable people to reap the benefits of a successful COVID-19 vaccination program.
The new rules came into effect amid reports that Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government could add a new category to Britain’s traffic light system of travel restrictions, a move according to industry officials would prompt many people to decide to stay at home.
From Monday, fully vaccinated travelers from UK ‘orange list’ destinations are allowed to enter the country without self-isolation for up to 10 days. The government is considering creating an amber watchlist to warn people of destinations that may be downgraded due to rising infection rates or the emergence of new variants.
“An orange watchlist will be seen as a huge red flag, which is likely to cause bookings to collapse in countries on this watchlist,” Huw Merriman, chairman of the transport committee of the watchlist, told the BBC. the House of Commons. “In my opinion, we no longer need uncertainty, complexity or anxiety for the passengers or this besieged sector. He just needs some clarity.
UK airlines and holiday companies are hoping for a travel boom in late summer after the pandemic halted most international travel, slashing profits and threatening thousands of jobs. The number of passengers passing through London’s Heathrow Airport, the UK’s busiest airport, fell 75% in the first half of this year.
David and Susan Handfield were among the first beneficiaries of the new travel rules on Monday, seeing their granddaughter Charlotta for the first time after she and her parents got off a flight from Berlin.
Charlotta was born in February, but virus issues and travel restrictions have kept her parents from bringing her to London until now. Her grandmother greeted her with a delicate kiss on the forehead at Heathrow Airport.
“We’ve been waiting for this moment for quite a long time,” said Susan Handfield, 70. “We only learned a week ago that they had booked the flights.”
While the Handfields have benefited from the rule change, other restrictions still prevent many people from flying. Travelers are required to pass expensive PCR tests to prove they are virus-free and countries, including the United States, still prohibit foreign travelers from crossing their borders.
John Holland-Kaye, chief executive of Heathrow, said the UK government should allow most travelers to use cheaper lateral flow tests and work with countries like the US to ease restrictions on remaining trip. This is justified by the UK’s successful vaccination program, he said.
Almost 89% of UK adults have received at least one dose of the vaccine and 73% have been fully immunized.
“It’s a good start, we are showing that the vaccine is our passport to freedom,” said Holland-Kaye. “Let’s be confident in vaccines. Tests show they work against both delta and beta variants. So let’s start showing that vaccination will bring us back to our lives as before. “
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Follow all of AP’s stories on the coronavirus pandemic: https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic
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