Traffic light rules ‘could be scrapped by next month’ – with no more green or amber lists
THE government could scrap the green and amber lists as soon as next month, giving an autumn holiday boost to Brits.
The traffic light scheme, which was introduced earlier this year, could instead consist of just red countries which ban non-essential travel.
The current rules allow all Brits to return from green list countries, while only vaccinated Brits can skip the quarantine required from amber list countries.
However, according to the , officials are developing a new system based on the vaccination status of travellers rather than the Covid situation in other countries.
This means that amber and green lists could be removed, although isn't clear on what the testing rules will be for vaccinated and unvaccinated Brits returning to the UK.
It is unlikely that the test requirement will be removed entirely, despite calls for tests to be reduced in price after a recent study found them to cost families an extra £300 on average.
The red list, which bans all travel, will still be in place, as will the mandatory hotel quarantine.
A source told the Telegraph: “It’s about whether you are vaccinated or not, rather than the country you are travelling to."
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“What it means is that green and amber disappear and only vaccination status will count for where you travel. For a vaccinated person, just as now all countries apart from red are ‘green’."
However, they also admitted that unvaxxed Brits may face more difficult travel rules, although this is unlikely to affect most of the UK with more than 80 per cent of the adult population now double jabbed.
PC Agency's Paul Charles also tweeted: "The traffic light system is expected to be scrapped by Oct 1 – at last.
"Airlines and many of us in the sector are aware of plans to create a simpler system, where countries are either red or not. This would be the US model in effect, which I’ve been calling for.
“Scrapping the traffic light system would be a relief to pretty well everyone and herald a ‘living with an endemic’ approach rather than blanket country measures."
The next travel update is expected next week on September 16, although is too early to know which countries could be included.
The last update saw seven countries added to the green list which included Canada and Denmark, while Thailand and Montenegro were put onto the red list.
The Covid rules have also caused chaos at airports across the UK at Luton, Heathrow and Manchester, with people fainting in longe queues and passengers forced to wait as long as five hours.
