The Diplomat
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson acknowledged yesterday that his government could lift all international travel restrictions next July 19, but warned that 2021 will be “a difficult year” to travel abroad because “the priority is the security of the country”.
Speaking to the BBC during a visit to a Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency laboratory in Hertfordshire, England, Johnson said the vaccination rollout “is going gangbusters” in the UK, where 60% of adults have already received the two doses.
“But when it comes to travel we will certainly be looking at” the possibility of exempting people who have received the two doses from quarantine, but “I want to stress that this is going to be, what ever happens, a difficult year for travel, there will be hassle, there will be delays I’m afraid the priority has got to be to keep the country safe and stop the virus from coming back in”, continued Johnson, who recalled that the Delta variant of the virus is still on the rise.
In these conditions, he said, the government’s priortity is to continue along the roadmap cautiously and irreversibly and says “it still looks to me as if July 19 is a terminus point” to quarantines for people who have received the full vaccination schedule in countries on the amber list, which includes Spain and the vast majority of countries. The British authorities do not prohibit travel to amber-listed countries, but they do require travelers, prior to their return to the UK, to submit a PCR test in the country of origin, another PCR test on arrival (each such test costs around 100 euros) and a quarantine period that can only be shortened by a third PCR.
Johnson made these statements amid pressure on the Government, particularly from airlines, to extend the green list, after data published yesterday by the Times showed that only 89 of the 23,465 passengers who have traveled to the UK from one of these countries tested positive for coronavirus between May 20 and June 9.
Early last May, British authorities established a green list of countries and territories to which travel would be facilitated. The list, renewed in early June, does not include any EU countries. Spain appears in the amber zone (following the colors of the traffic light) of this list, which can be revised every three weeks and which includes the countries as a whole and, therefore, does not provide for any differentiated treatment by regions, not even for those with a low incidence of contagion, such as the Valencian Community, the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands.
Since June 7, Spain has allowed entry to citizens of non-EU countries who present a certificate with the complete vaccination schedule, regardless of whether or not they are on the European list of third countries to which entry restrictions have been lifted. This Spanish open-door policy benefits not only the United States, but also the United Kingdom, which has again been left off the European list. Other EU member states, such as Portugal, France and Greece, also allow the entry of British citizens vaccinated with the two doses.
