Family Holidays Hopes Grow in Europe Being Allowed from End of July

According to various sources, there is growing optimism that family vacations in Europe would be permitted beginning in late July.

Scientists discovered no evidence of variations in more than 23,000 persons tested after returning to the UK from amber destinations, according to the Telegraph.

Fewer than one in 200 travelers from countries on the Amber List tested positive for Covid-19, and no cases were classified as “variants of concern.”

Ministers have until 28th June to examine the government’s travel traffic light system, and the cabinet’s Covid-O committee will meet later this week to discuss whether or not to expand the quarantine-free green list.

Chief Executive of Airlines UK, Tim Alderslade, told the newspaper: “No Covid cases from people arriving from green list countries, zero variants from amber and a very low positivity rate. This is clear evidence of the government treating international travel differently from the domestic economy.

“If the unlocking of the domestic economy takes place as planned on July 19, there is no reason why international travel should have to wait several more weeks.”

The chair of the all-party future of aviation group, Henry Smith MP, also added: “These figures clearly show that our current chaotic and overly cautious approach to international travel is not based on data at all.

“Our approach to international travel simply defies belief, as Europe reopens, we have gone from a restart based on data and science to the near total closure of our airports without proper explanation or justification.”

The Chairman of the 1922 committee of Conservative MPs, Sir Graham Brady, told The Times: “Vaccination and testing are making international travel safer just as surely as they make things safer within our borders.

“It’s time British people were able to reap the benefits of the vaccines and for us to get the travel industry moving again.”

Susan Hopkins, Public Health England’s strategic adviser for coronavirus, told the Times that officials were talking to countries ahead of Britain in terms of vaccinations, such as Israel, about how to open up foreign travel.

Former cabinet member and Tory MP for Clwyd West David Jones told The Times: “These figures are very compelling, and also extremely worrying at a time when the travel industry is in crisis. They show very clearly that there is no good reason why the current restrictions should remain.”