UK Minister says people can think of summer vacations as govt unveils traffic light system

United Kingdom’s Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps has said that people can now start to think about booking summer holidays. The statement from the minister comes as the Britain government unveiled plans for a traffic light system to allow overseas travel. The government will confirm in early May if it will allow international travel to resume from May 17 along with the list of countries that will fall respectively in red, amber or green categories in the new traffic light system based on COVID-19 risks.

Authorities working on making travel affordable 

Speaking with Sky News, Shapps said that he is trying to make foreign travel as affordable as possible as there was criticism that the coronavirus testing requirement will hike up the holiday costs. He said that costs are still a concern and people need to accept that everyone is still in a pandemic. Therefore, precautions are to be taken and testing is important. Speaking about cutting down the costs, he said that whether the government can help provide the lateral flow tests that people need to take before returning to the UK. Also, the costs of tests can be reduced  when they get home if it is in the green category.

According to the reports by The Guardian, the British nationals would be given a “watchlist” of all the countries whose quarantine status is at risk of changing to help with planning. This will also help in avoiding the chaos that prevailed last summer amid the pandemic. The traffic light system would reportedly also reveal whether and where the travellers must isolate themselves after they return to England. 

The UK Department for Transport (DFT) said that a “watchlist” will be drawn up to identify the countries that could switch from green to amber in order to assist the passengers to plan in advance. The prior planning of guidelines in Britain came after last year witnessed a mass rush for flights when the news about the alterations to travel corridors was announced with minimal notice. The watchlist, DFT said that ministers, “will not hesitate to act immediately” to change a country’s status if required.

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