The British government announced a major simplification of its rules for international travel on Friday, heeding complaints from travellers and businesses that its regulations aimed at staving off the spread of COVID-19 were cumbersome and ineffective.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the "simpler, more straightforward system" would allow "more people to travel, see loved ones or conduct business around the world while providing a boost for the travel industry."
He said the changes were possible because of Britain's high vaccination rate. Almost 82 per cent of people 16 and up in the UK are fully vaccinated.
Shapps said the UK is scrapping its "traffic light" system that ranks countries as red, amber or green — high, medium or low risk from the coronavirus. The categories have been criticized as unfair, and sudden changes to countries' status have caused headaches for thousands of travellers.
From October 4, there will be a two-tier system, with several dozen countries where COVID-19 is widespread classed as red, and the remainder as open. Eight countries will be removed from the red list on Wednesday: Turkey, Pakistan, the Maldives, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Oman, Bangladesh and Kenya.
Testing requirements will be eased for fully vaccinated arrivals to England from open countries, who will no longer have to take a COVID-19 test before travelling. Travellers will still need a test after landing, but from the end October an inexpensive lateral flow test will suffice, rather...
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