Covid vaccines required to travel ‘for ever more’, Grant Shapps says
This is ominous – the net is tightening.
This would never be possible if most people had never complied and given in to the coercion.
Note the classic Orwellian double speak from Shapps at the end where he states: “We are committed to opening up international travel safely, taking advantage of the gains we’ve made through our successful vaccination programme, helping connect families, friends and businesses round the world”.
The article in full:
“Coronavirus vaccination will be required to travel “for ever more” and young people will not be able to leave the country without it, the transport secretary warned today.
Grant Shapps said most or all countries would permanently require travellers to have been double-jabbed for the virus before letting them in.
It comes after ministers announced last night that vaccinated travellers to France, Dubai and India will no longer be required to quarantine on their return to the UK in a boost for summer holidays abroad.
Grant Shapps said the government was committed to opening up international travel safely
Shapps told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: “I think double vaccination, full vaccination, is going to be a feature for ever more and most countries, probably all countries, will require full vaccination in order for you to enter.”
Hetold LBC that young people who thought they did not need the jab because the virus did not affect them were mistaken because they would be barred from travel.
“It’s important to understand that there are simply going to be things that you will not be able to do unless you’re double-vaccinated or have a medical reason not to be, including going abroad,” he said.
“So actually there are good reasons if you’re perhaps in your twenties and you feel like ‘oh, this doesn’t really affect me’ — well, it is going to, because you won’t be able to leave the country.”
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The government has been pushing to increase the rate of vaccine take-up among younger age groups. Ministers warned that the unvaccinated will be barred from certain aspects of society, including nightclubs, which will require proof of vaccination from October.
Shapps said the government had brought in a more “simplified system” for travel by removing additional restrictions on France and moving more countries onto the green and amber lists.
He told Times Radio: “We do want people to have a simplified traffic-light system to be able to go away. Goodness knows people in this country deserve a break, having gone through the coronavirus, and we want people to be able to go away … and not have to be looking over their shoulder.”
France will be formally taken off the amber-plus list, which requires all travellers to quarantine for ten days on their return to the UK.
The government has opted against putting Spain on an amber watchlist despite concerns about the number of cases there. Ministers are instead advising people to take a PCR test rather than a cheaper lateral flow test before they fly back to the UK.
The decision has sparked backlash because of the cost of PCR tests. Huw Merriman, Tory chairman of the transport select committee, said they were “an unnecessary rip-off”.
Shapps insisted that nine in ten travellers from Spain already took a PCR test before boarding planes to the UK because the quality of rapid tests in Spain was lower.
He told the BBC: “Because the quality of the test that was already required to return to the UK was already set at a certain level, in most countries that already ruled out lateral flow tests.”
As part of the changes to travel rules, the United Arab Emirates will be removed from the red list along with Qatar, India and Bahrain.
Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Slovakia, Latvia, Romania and Norway will all move on to the green list, meaning that nobody coming from them has to quarantine regardless of whether they have been vaccinated.
Mexico, Georgia and the French overseas territories of Réunion and Mayotte will be put on the red list.
Shapps told Times Radio he believed that only a few thousand Britons in Mexico would be affected.
The travel changes will take effect from 4am on Sunday. Moving the UAE off the red list is significant for long-haul travel as many people flying to far-flung destinations go through the international hubs of Dubai and Qatar.
The inclusion of India on the amber list, however, could prove controversial because official figures suggest cases are rising there after weeks of steady decline.
The cost for solo travellers staying at a quarantine hotel will rise from £1,750 to £2,285 from August 12 and the charge for an additional adult sharing a room will jump from £650 to £1,430. This is to “better reflect the increased costs involved”, according to the government.
Boris Johnson said that he wanted to take a “balanced” approach to travel as he acknowledged that holidays were important to people.
“People think about them, they save up for them, people yearn to go abroad this year — I totally get that,” he said. “We’ve got to balance that against the need to protect our country against the influx of new variants. We’ve got a balanced policy but clearly we have the benefit now of the double-jab system.”
The decision to remove quarantine restrictions for those returning from France comes after a backlash from cabinet ministers, Tory MPs and the travel industry. Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, said last week that it was taken because of the high number of cases of the Beta variant — which scientists fear is more resistant to vaccines — in Réunion, a French overseas territory 6,000 miles away.
Senior government sources said that Raab was mistaken but Réunion has now been added to the red list. In 2019, 3.6 million Britons visited France from July to September. It is the UK’s second most popular holiday destination after Spain, which attracted 6.3 million holidaymakers in the same period.
The travel industry objected to the advice that people returning from Spain take PCR tests, which typically cost £100 in mainland Spain, rather than lateral flow tests, which cost £25.
The government said that the change was a “precaution against the increased prevalence of the virus and variants in the country”. However, a travel industry source said: “It’s clear they realised they couldn’t put it on the red list because there are not enough government-secured hotel beds in the UK, so they had to come up with a new way to deter people from holidaying there.
“It’s just yet another example of the subtle measures they use to dent consumer confidence in travel. For families wanting to do the right thing and follow the guidance it will add hundreds of pounds on to the cost of their holiday.”
The travel industry said the decision to put the United Arab Emirates and Qatar on the amber list was “extremely important”.
Jamie Wortley, a travel specialist, toldThe Times: “These are two vital hubs, especially the UAE. Until now, a Briton changing planes in either would have been forced to submit to hotel quarantine. It’s a game-changer, especially as we approach winter sun season. These are typically high-value holidays, so it will also be a lifeline to travel businesses.”
AirlinesUK, which represents carriers, said the announcement did not amount to the “step change” in policy that was wanted and criticised the “much smaller than hoped for expansion of the green list”.
Shapps said: “We are committed to opening up international travel safely, taking advantage of the gains we’ve made through our successful vaccination programme, helping connect families, friends and businesses round the world.”