Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica and Grenada were among 16 countries added to the United Kingdom (UK) government’s updated green list for travel on Thursday.
The updated list, which also includes the British Overseas Territories of Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands and Montserrat, will come into effect from next Wednesday, June 30.
All countries added to that list, apart from Malta, will also join the green watchlist, signaling that they are at risk of moving from green to amber.
The UK government, in response to the Global Travel Taskforce recommendation on checkpoint review, announced plans to reopen international travel, including plans to remove the self-isolation period for amber list countries for those who are fully vaccinated, with full details set out next month.
Haiti and the Dominican Republic are among the countries that have been added to the UK’s red list.
“They present a high public health risk to the UK from known variants of concern (VOC), known high-risk variants under investigation (VUI) or as a result of very high in-country or territory prevalence of COVID-19,” explained a statement issued by the British High Commission in Barbados.
“All classification changes have been decided by ministers, informed by the latest data and analysis by the Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC) and wider public health considerations, to help the public understand the risks to public health of traveling to different destinations. All measures announced today are designed to give travelers and the travel sector more certainty, will be kept under review, and further action may be taken to protect public health.”
It is the UK Government’s intention that later in the summer, arrivals who are fully vaccinated will not have to quarantine when traveling from countries on the amber list.
“We expect this to occur in phases, starting with UK residents. They will still be required to take a pre-departure test and a test on day two, and any positive results will be sequenced to continue to manage the risk of importing variants.
“At the same time, we intend to remove the guidance that people should not travel to amber countries. Pending decisions on whether under-18s should routinely be offered vaccination, we will also take clinical advice on whether regular testing can provide a safe alternative to quarantine for children accompanied by vaccinated adults,” the High Commission said.
Further details will be set out next month, including the rules which will apply to children and those unable to be vaccinated, how this approach at the border will be operationalized, and the dates on which these changes will come into effect.
“Until these measures are introduced, all passengers, whether vaccinated or not, must continue to abide by quarantine rules for returning to the UK from an amber list country, and it is recommended that people should not travel to amber list countries at the moment,” the High Commission’s statement added.
CMC
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