Travellers from France to UK will still have to quarantine

Fully vaccinated adults returning from France to the UK from Monday will still have to quarantine, after a sudden U-turn by the British government announced late on Friday evening.

Boris Johnson, the prime minister, is set to tweak England’s “traffic light” system for foreign travel at the start of next week, so that adults coming back from “amber countries” will no longer have to self-isolate for 10 days if they have had two Covid-19 jabs.

But France will be excluded from that relaxation under the new plan — even though it will technically remain on the amber list.

Ministers had considered adding France to the “red list” under which people can only travel under strict hotel quarantine conditions that can cost thousands of pounds per family.

But they were reluctant to do so, given that the French border is such a critical route for both travel and trade.

Instead the government has in effect created a new, fourth category within the traffic light system: green; red; amber with self-isolation; and amber without self-isolation.

Grant Shapps, transport secretary, urged all travellers to check their terms and conditions as well as travel restrictions before they go: “Travel will be different this year and whilst we are committed to continuing to open up international travel safely, our absolute priority is to protect public health here in the UK,” he said.

The decision was taken even though the number of Covid-19 cases in France is only an eighth of the level in the UK.

Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer, has shown ministers data illustrating a rapid growth in the Beta variant first found in South Africa, according to industry and government figures. Whitty is understood to be concerned that younger, unjabbed people could bring back the virus in August ahead of the start of school terms. 

Sajid Javid, the health secretary, said: “We have always been clear that we will not hesitate to take rapid action at our borders to stop the spread of Covid-19 and protect the gains made by our successful vaccination programme.”

Travellers from France will all have to take a coronavirus test on the second and eighth day after their return, even if they have been vaccinated.

They will be able to shorten their quarantine through the government’s “Test to Release” scheme if they can pay for yet another test on day five and it is negative.

The news comes just two days after the Balearic Islands were demoted from the green to the amber list.

Paul Charles, founder of the PC Agency, a travel consultancy, said: “The constant threat of change by government is creating anxiety for consumers and leading to a slowdown or changes in new and existing bookings. The government needs to show that fully vaccinated travellers, and those properly tested, are safe to travel to areas popular at this time of year.”

Nick Thomas-Symonds, shadow home secretary, said ministers were “making up rules on the hoof” regarding France. “The UK government’s Covid border restrictions are descending into further chaos,” he said.