A Green Light For Travel?

The UK government has formalised its traffic light system, which categorises travel destinations based on their covid-19 risk. How does it work, where can you go and will it bring a return to international travel this summer?

- Sarah Barrell

International leisure travel has finally resumed, led by the government’s traffic light system, which ranks countries based on their Covid-19 risk, with ‘green’ countries deemed low risk, ‘amber’ medium risk and ‘red’ high risk. The government has said people shouldn’t travel to ‘amber’ and ‘red’ countries for leisure, although it remains unclear if or how this would be checked, and travellers falling into either category will still require Covid-19 tests and quarantine on return to the UK. At the time of going to print, just 12 countries and territories are on the ‘green list’, which has been devised, the government says, using Covid-19 health metrics, including vaccination numbers, infection rates and prevalence of variants.

How does it work?

GREEN LIST DESTINATIONS: No quarantine on return to the UK unless you test positive for Covid-19. A pre-departure PCR test, up to 72 hours before return travel, plus a single PCR test on or before day two of arrival into England.