On 19 May, 6,080 new cases were recorded, 400 fewer than the previous week, with 66 deaths, compared with 108 the previous week. Death rates have fallen sharply, as has pressure on intensive care units. Spain is no longer in the high-risk category. We look at what restrictions remain in place in each country and when they hope to open to visitors. The five popular holiday destinations listed here are all on the amber list – it is not illegal to travel to them, but the government says travel should be for “essential” purposes only – and you have to quarantine at home on your return. In the meantime, European countries are lifting national restrictions and preparing to welcome visitors back, in the hope that the battered tourism industry can begin to recover.
Meanwhile, health advisers and scientists have publicly disagreed with the government’s approach, warning against any overseas travel this summer. Airlines continue to fly to them and travel companies are selling holidays to key summer destinations from June, in the hope that the FCDO advice will change and the green list will be extended, despite health secretary Matt Hancock warning that the government was not likely to add to it any time soon. Travellers returning from amber countries must take a Covid-19 test before their arrival in England and are required to quarantine for 10 days on their return, taking a test on or before days two and eight.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) currently advises against all but essential travel to the popular amber-listed countries listed below (with a few exceptions), but it is not illegal to travel them. The government spent the week reiterating that people should not visit amber list countries. On Thursday, easyJet CEO Johan Lundgren accused the government of sowing confusion and said it was clearly out of step with the rest of Europe: this week the EU updated its recommendations to advise that fully vaccinated travellers will be allowed to enter EU countries, though there is some doubt over whether that will apply to travellers from the UK. Travel companies and airlines have spent the week pressurising the government to add more European countries to the green list. Travellers to Portugal are still required to present a negative PCR test result on arrival, among other paperwork, as Guardian Travel writer Kevin Rushby discovered when he travelled to Faro on assignment this week.
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After a five-month foreign holiday ban, British holidaymakers were legally allowed to travel for leisure to destinations on the green list from 17 May, though in practice only three of the 12 “green” countries and territories were free of entry restrictions: Portugal, Madeira and Gibraltar. Like so many changes to the UK’s Covid rules over the past 14 months, the new traffic light system for international travel came into force this week amid confusion, frustration and dismay.