Govt expected to announce overhaul of Covid-19 travel rules 

The government is expected to announce changes to international travel rules for England later today.

The requirement for double-jabbed people returning to the UK to take PCR tests may be removed and the  “traffic light” system narrowed to just “green” and “red” list countries. It has been suggested that dozens of countries could be removed from the current red list of 62 countries.

By removing the amber category, only those arriving from red list countries would be made to quarantine in a government-approved hotel.

Chief executive of Airlines UK Tim Alderslade told the BBC that testing rules were preventing the British travel industry from competing with international rivals at a time when the end of the furlough scheme already risks thousands of jobs.

Huw Merriman, Conservative chairman of the Commons Transport Select Committee, said PCR tests were expensive and “putting people off travel”, arguing that lateral flow tests were “just as safe”.

Alan McNally, professor of Microbial Evolutionary Genomics at the University of Birmingham, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Friday that lateral flow testing would be “sufficient” for travellers given the UK’s high Covid rate, but added that it was “vitally important” that genome-level surveillance of travel-related Covid cases be continued.