Amber list: Fully vaccinated adults & all children will no longer have to quarantine upon return to England

Full vaccinated adults and all children will no longer have to quarantine when returning from an Amber list country from July 19.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps detailed his plans to MPs on Thursday to free up foreign holidays as coronavirus restrictions are eased.

He confirmed that holidaymakers from the UK who have received two jabs will no longer be required to self-isolate for 10 days on their return to England from destinations on the amber list.

People aged under 18 will also be exempted from the requirement and the guidance not to travel to countries on the amber list will be lifted from July 19, when the majority of restrictions are expected to be eased in England.

Mr Shapps said people returning from holidays from amber destinations, such as France, Spain, and Portugal, will still be required to take a Covid-19 test three days before returning.

They will also have to take a test on or before the second day of their return, but will be exempted from the day eight test.

He told the Commons:

“In essence, this means that for fully vaccinated travellers the requirements for green and amber list countries are the same.”

Airlines welcomed the changes, which the Transport Secretary said “may differ” in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

A Liverpool John Lennon Airport spokesperson commented:

“We very much welcome this positive move which will be a great step towards saving the vitally important Summer season for the aviation industry as we recognise the success of the vaccine rollout across the UK and now hope to welcome back many more passengers on to flights operating from Liverpool.

“We do however still need to see further relaxations in relation to PCR testing that passengers still need to undertake despite limited positive cases being reported to date for returning passengers.

“We hope the testing requirements will improve at the next review on 31^st July, as this remains a costly and potential barrier for many of our customers.”

While the announcement is for UK residents only, Mr Shapps said ministers are “working to extend our approach to vaccinated passengers from important markets of holiday destinations later this summer such as the United States and the EU”.