UK eases travel rules, slashes red list to 7 countries

Britain will scrap tough COVID-19 quarantine requirements for 47 destinations on Monday.

The government has also made it easier for people to arrive from countries including India, Brazil and Turkey in the latest stage of its relaxation of the rules.

On Thursday, transport minister Grant Shapps said he would remove 47 destinations from the red list that required arrivals to spend 10 days quarantining in a hotel.

Seven countries remain on the list, including Colombia, Ecuador, Panama and Venezuela.

He has also eased the rules for 37 countries such as India, Pakistan, Turkey and Ghana, meaning that fully vaccinated arrivals will only need to take a test on day 2 to check for COVID.

In a further change, passengers will be able to send a picture of their lateral flow test result to verify test accuracy once the requirement switches from the more expensive PCR test later this month.

"Restoring people's confidence in travel is key to rebuilding our economy and levelling up this country," he said.

"With less restrictions and more people travelling, we can all continue to move safely forward together along our pathway to recovery."

UPDATE: From Monday (11th Oct) 📅 I’ll be cutting 47 destinations from our red list – including South Africa, with just 7 countries and territories remaining ⚠️ - all others will be included in the “rest of world” category 🌐 [1/3]

— Rt Hon Sir Grant Shapps (@grantshapps) October 7, 2021

Find out more 👇https://t.co/j6b1VNeXJL

— Rt Hon Sir Grant Shapps (@grantshapps) October 7, 2021

The measures announced today mark the next step as we continue to open up travel 🌎 and provide stability for passengers 🧳 and industry ✈️ while remaining on track to keep travel open for good. [3/3]

— Rt Hon Sir Grant Shapps (@grantshapps) October 7, 2021