Winter holidays could soon become less complex and costly as Health Secretary Sajid Javid has said that the spread of omicron in the UK has “minimised” the justification for the more stringent rules that were introduced over the past fortnight.
Ben Bradshaw, a member of the Transport Select Committee, pointed out on Monday that Mr Javid had previously agreed that “once omicron became widespread here, the very draconian, costly and complex travel rules that he introduced two weeks ago to stop omicron coming would be pointless” and asked why they were still in place.
Mr Javid said: “It’s something that I’ve already raised with my colleagues in the Department for Transport and I do hope that we can act quickly.”
Restrictions currently include 10 days of hotel quarantine for passengers from red list countries and extra Covid tests for all UK arrivals.
Reports suggest that ministers could approve the scrapping of hotel quarantine for red list travellers today – passengers from the 11 southern African countries in the category would instead be asked to self-isolate at home, or in other accommodation, for 10 days. There is a wish to avoid having any travellers in a quarantine hotel on Christmas day, according to The Times.
Scroll down for the latest travel updates.
Monday’s travel headlines
Here’s a recap:
- Hotel quarantine could be scrapped this week
- Austria offers testing to allow unvaccinated teenagers to visit
- Israel bans citizens from visiting Britain and Denmark
-
France launches investigations into fake Covid health passes
Now onto today’s travel news.
Source: telegraph UK