The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson will meet with his Ministers and Scientific Advisers later in the day to finalize the changes in the travel lists of the country's traffic light system. Announcements are expected in the late afternoon.
According to reports, the additions to the green list will be limited, with Malta, Madeira and the Balearic Islands being the predominant destinations for upgrading from the orange list.
However, in an article in the Daily Mail, the CEO of Jet2 Steve Hippie emphasizes that from an epidemiological point of view the green list should be placed immediately beyond the aforementioned destinations "the Canary Islands, the Greek islands and Cyprus".
As he explains, all of these destinations have lower incidence rates than the UK and coronavirus vaccination rates are fast approaching UK rates.
The main difference between the two categories is that arrivals on British soil from green countries are not accompanied by a ten-day isolation requirement at home.
However, the meeting is also expected to consider the proposal to abolish the quarantine obligation for those fully vaccinated British tourists returning from the orange countries.
A new meeting on this issue is expected to take place on Monday, when there may be relevant announcements. According to several reports, the ministers are divided between those who want the quarantine to be lifted from July 19, the date of the next evaluation of the green list, and those who consider it prudent for the measure to take effect from August.
Meanwhile, Georgian Agriculture Minister George Justis called German Chancellor Angela Merkel's call to European partners to quarantine arrivals from the United Kingdom "unjustified" due to the rise in cases of the Delta variant.
Source: KYPE