By Boris Johnson has warned people should not be holidaying in amber list countries, after a minister said people could visit friends.
Amid confusion about official advice on the issue, Gillian Keegan said whether to follow guidelines or not was a matter of “personal responsibility”.
Millions of holidaymakers are set to defy government orders not to travel to “amber list” countries despite warnings that trips should only be made in exceptional circumstances.
The prime minister has stressed these destinations are “not somewhere where you should be going on holiday”.
The Department for Transport advised that people should not be visiting amber or red list countries for “leisure purposes”.
Currently, only a handful of European countries are currently open to non-EU travelers–Portugal is one of them, having opened to U.K. travelers on Sunday following its own inclusion onto the U.K.’s safe list of 12 countries.
DPA, Soeder Image
EU ambassadors have backed plans to allow non-essential travel from countries with low infection rates, with a list to be agreed this week.
Diplomats in Brussels said visitors should be allowed to come from countries with an incidence rate of below 75 cases per 100,000 people.
In the UK, the case rate for the last seven days is 22 per 100,000 – but there are concerns about the Indian Covid-19 variant.
EU envoys have also recommended that non-essential travel should be allowed from outside the EU for people who have been fully vaccinated.
However, they say it should be up to member states to decide on measures they impose, such as Covid tests or quarantine.
Contact Gi National
Email us: news@gi-media.co.uk
