European summer holidays could be off until Covid vaccine rates catch up with UK

Summer holidays in Europe could be off until vaccination rates on the continent catch up with the UK, under plans being considered by a Government taskforce.

The group, led by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, is due to publish a report in three weeks' time on how to restart foreign tourism.

It is expected to propose a traffic light-style system that could allow British holidaymakers quarantine-free travel to "green list" low-risk countries.

However, a third wave of Covid-19 sweeping Europe amid disarray over its vaccination programme risks it being a “traffic light system with no countries on the green list” when foreign travel is scheduled to resume on May 17, according to a taskforce insider.

Scientists have warned ministers that variants entering Britain is the biggest danger as the virus surges among unvaccinated Europeans compounded by the continent's less comprehensive Covid-19 sequencing that makes it less able to detect new strains before they spread.

“The taskforce is looking at vaccination rates, prevalence of the virus and variants. It will set out a framework for restarting travel but at the moment there are serious concerns among the scientists. I don’t see there being much travel in May,” said a Government source.

However, the UK Government is also in talks with the US to establish a pilot travel corridor as two countries in the top five in the world for vaccinations.

Joe Biden’s administration is aiming to reopen travel in mid-May when he hopes all US adults will have been offered a vaccination. More than 100 million have so far had a jab.

Israel and Singapore have also been identified as countries where vaccination levels could enable travel to resume more quickly.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said Sunday that it's still "premature" to book foreign summer holidays.

“Our number one consideration is that even though the UK is almost leading the world on vaccination rates, it is really important we don't import new variants and undermine all that hard work,” he told the BBC's Andrew Marr show.

"I haven't booked my holiday, I will wait to see what the responses from those taskforces in April. I think it would be premature to do that, it would be potentially risky, we're seeing growing variants."

Under the proposals being considered by the global travel taskforce, the ban on non-essential travel is likely to continue for “red list” countries with travellers facing at least 10 days in quarantine, possibly in government-approved hotels, and a compulsory series of three Covid-19 tests.

Travellers returning from amber list countries are likely to have to undergo pre-departure tests followed by home quarantine but could be released on the fifth day if they test negative for Covid-19.

The green list country criteria is proving the most contentious. Travel industry chiefs want few if any restrictions but Government scientists are believed to be pushing back and want testing and Covid-19 vaccination certificates for holidaymakers on any flights or journeys.

“Testing could still be a part of it even for the green list and for those who have been vaccinated. The cost could put a holiday out of the reach of many families,” said a source.

Scientists are concerned that other European countries do not have the same “gold standard” Covid-19 gene sequencing as the UK to enable them to effectively identify new variants, which could hold those countries back from being put on the green list.

"What the scientists are considering is at what level they are comfortable that a variant could be detected. If they feel there is not sufficient ability to do that they might err on the side of caution. They don't suddenly want to discover it is in the UK,” said a travel industry source.

"Lots of scientists are gearing up. We could end up with a traffic light system with no countries on the green list which would be disappointing and worrying."

The taskforce report is due to be presented to Prime Minister Boris Johnson by the end of March before publication on April 12. Ministers want a system that is flexible enough to adjust to changes in infection and vaccination rates in different countries.

Only about 12 per cent of the EU’s 448 million population have so far been immunised, against half of UK adults.

The UK Government has just announced a record 844,285 first and second Covid-19 jabs in the latest 24 hour period, which is up from the previous record of 711,156 the previous day.

France and Poland have reintroduced lockdowns and Germany is considering fresh restrictions. About ten per cent of France’s new cases are the South African variant and UK scientists have put it on a watch list, although there is no imminent move to place it on the red list of countries requiring arrivals to spend time in hotel quarantine.

Mary Ramsay, Public Health England’s head of immunisation, said Covid-19 rates in Europe were “very concerning.”

“Hopefully they will get their vaccines on track a bit more and that will bring the [rates] down and obviously there will be lockdowns,” she told the BBC.

But she said the safest option was to avoid travel that could lead to variants being imported even by inoculated Britons. “It’s really too early to say what sort of summer we might be able to experience,” she said.

“If you have had the vaccine it will protect you but it doesn’t necessarily prevent you potentially passing it on to someone else by having that mild infection.

“So we really don’t want to jeopardise what has been an amazingly successful programme by allowing more circulation of unwelcome strains.”

Meanwhile, the Government is rolling out new technology which will be able to halve the time taken to identify dangerous variants, which currently takes four to five days, Matt Hancock has announced.