In a press conference today Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced that non-essential international leisure travel from England will be permitted from 17 May, but strict border control measures will remain in place. The Global Travel Taskforce’s traffic light system, which classifies countries by risk as red, amber or green, will be in place from 17 May.
He announced:
- Australia, Brunei, Falkland Islands, Faroe Islands, Gibraltar, Iceland, Israel and Jersualem, New Zealand, Portugal (including the Azores and Madeira), Singapore, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha will all be on the green list, and people can travel to these countries from 4am on 17 May.
- The Maldives, Nepal and Turkey will move to the red list at 4am on Wednesday 12 May.
The full list of which countries are in which classification and the rules for each is available here.
When asked why there were so few countries on the green list, Grant Shapps said they are taking cautious steps and the Joint Bio Security Centre will review every 3 weeks. Checkpoints are in place to keep track of any countries moving between levels.
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