UK free to travel to more countries as Australia’s closed borders remain

As Australia faces another full year of no overseas travel, our mates in the UK have just been given even more travel freedoms.

Major changes to UK travel rules will see more Brits taking up the opportunity to holiday overseas – while Australia faces another year of closed international borders.

As the UK’s vaccination rollout steams ahead, the government has updated its traffic light system for arriving travellers, with countries assigned to green, amber and red lists based on their Covid-19 risk. The system sets out entry requirements for each colour status, and different rules for unvaccinated travellers.

In an update that takes effect this weekend, more countries were added to the green list, and the holiday hub of Dubai – which was deemed a no-go zone by the UK government months ago, sparking a controversial loophole for influencers – was moved from red to amber, boosting millions of Brits’ holiday hopes for the rest of summer.

Brits have been given more travel freedom with countries to be added to its green travel list. Picture: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Travel to Spain is allowed, but unvaccinated arrivals in the UK will have to self-isolate for 10 days. Picture: Zowy Voeten/Getty Images

“We are committed to opening up international travel safely,” Britain’s Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said in a statement overnight.

“While we must continue to be cautious, today’s changes reopen a range of different holiday destinations across the globe, which is good news for both the sector and travelling public.”

Australians, meanwhile, seem no closer to international travel after outbreaks of the Delta virus sent millions into lockdown and set back the nation’s Covid-19 recovery.

According to Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s new Covid-19 road map, Australia’s borders will remain largely closed even when 80 per cent of the population is vaccinated, which isn’t expected until 2022.

A travel ad for Spain on the billboards at Piccadilly Circus in London on August 1. Picture: Hollie Adams/Getty Images

Tourists in the Spanish holiday hotspot of Ibiza. Picture: Zowy Voeten/Getty Images

More travel bubbles may reopen then, including to Singapore and the Pacific, but open borders won’t arrive until Phase D – the final stage known as “post-vaccination”.

The federal budget forecast that borders will remain largely closed until July 2022.

In the UK, where the BBC reports more than 70 per cent of the adult population is fully vaccinated, overseas travel is looking much closer to a pre-Covid normal.

What is the UK’s traffic light system?

Under the UK government system, countries are assigned a status of green, amber or red that sets out requirements for arrival in the UK. The list is updated every three weeks, determining which new destinations are opening up to British travellers.

Countries on the green list are considered “low risk” and arrivals in the UK don’t have to quarantine. They must produce a negative test before they enter, and be tested two days later.

Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Slovakia, Latvia, Romania and Norway are the countries that will be added to the green list from Sunday.

British tourists enjoy the night life that in Ibiza’s West End on July 16. Picture: Zowy Voeten/Getty Images

Travellers arrive from France at St Pancras International Station on July 31. Picture: Hollie Adams/Getty Images

They join a host of other countries including Croatia, Malta, Singapore, Hong Kong, Israel, New Zealand and Australia.

Arrivals from amber list countries need to test negative before they enter and have two tests on days two and eight. If arrivals are unvaccinated, they have to self-isolate at home for 10 days.

India, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar have been added to the list, joining the United States, Canada, Thailand, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Greece, Japan and others.

If a country is on the red list, arrivals must go into hotel quarantine for 10 days upon arrival, at a cost of about $4300. They must produce a negative test before arrival and be tested on days two and eight.

Argentina, Brazil, Indonesia, Egypt, Turkey, South Africa, Maldives, Pakistan and Philippines are among the countries on the red list. Mexico will be downgraded to red this weekend, and Georgia, La Reunion and Mayotte will be added.