- British Transport Secretary Grant Sharps said that the government is expected to announce a plan to allow foreigners with dual vaccinations to enter.
- Many scientists worry that the government plans to remove most of the restrictions in England on July 19, which will trigger a new Covid-19 outbreak.
- More importantly, starting later this month, fully vaccinated British residents and children will no longer need to be isolated when they return to the UK.
The British government said on Friday that it expects to announce a plan within the next two weeks to allow dual-vaccinated foreigners and British expatriates to enter, as it removes most coronavirus restrictions.
Transport Minister Grant Sharps also defended the government’s decision to allow 1,000 Italian football fans to participate in Sunday’s European Cup final against England, along with about 60,000 other supporters.
Many scientists worry that the government plans to lift most of the restrictions in England on July 19 and give the green light to a large number of people in the football final, which will lead to a new outbreak of Covid-19.
Amid growing concerns about the spread of the Coronavirus Delta variant, a warning is not to return to normal prematurely.https://t.co/0ZcMIIwfnE
— News24 (@News24) July 6, 2021
Shaps said that fans from Italy will take a special chartered flight, stay in London for only 12 hours, set up a quarantine area at Wembley Stadium, and return home after the game.
“They can’t go anywhere else,” he told Sky News, calling this a “very restricted plan.”
The government announced on Thursday that from July 19, British residents and children who have been vaccinated will no longer need to be quarantined when they return to the UK.
This news makes it easier to travel to some of the British’s favorite holiday destinations in the summer, including France, Greece and Spain.
Read here | After two weeks of lockdown, Sydney ushered in the worst day of this year’s virus cases
However, the plan is limited to travelers who are vaccinated through the British health service, and does not include British expats and foreigners stabbed abroad, which has particularly attracted criticism from the expats.
Sharps said that expanding the program to foreigners and other overseas tourists is “something we are actively working on.”
The minister stated that he expects that “in the next few weeks, I will be able to stand up and say more about the rest of the world.”
However, he said, “In some places such as the European Union, they have a digital application that is easier to complete than in the United States. I think they have 50 different systems, one in each state, mainly paper-based.”
The United Kingdom recorded 32551 Covid cases on Wednesday as the more infectious Delta variant caused a surge in infections. It is already one of the countries with the worst death toll in Europe, with more than 128,000 deaths.
However, the government insists that because vaccination has kept hospitalizations and deaths at a relatively low level, it is time to start reopening the economy after the third lockdown.
