Live Leeds Covid news as government set to announce travel green list
Portugal, Iceland, Malta, Israel and Gibraltar are expected to make the cut
Holidaymakers are expected to find out today which countries have been added to the travel green list.
The government is due to announce destinations that can be visited without quarantining this summer, with Portugal, Iceland and Malta expected to make the list.
Once restrictions ease further on May 17, travel will be permitted again but the government is introducing a traffic light system to make it safe.
It comes after scientists are stepping up preparations for an autumn booster vaccination campaign to protect against a third wave of coronavirus.
COMMENT The rest of the world, might be less enthused to hear about UK plans for venturing forth WHEN Boris Johnson takes to the podium today to announce the easing of travel restrictions for England, the east coast of Scotland will be preparing for hail showers. Ah, the joys of summer. It’s lucky we didn’t cast our clouts prematurely. This strange limbo between voting in elections and learning the results is bound to be filled with talk of sunnier, happier times – package holidays, city breaks, any kind of escape from the place dubbed “Plague Island” due to its disastrous response to the pandemic.
Live Yorkshire Covid updates as green list of countries set to be announced today
The government is expected to make the announcement today
The government is due to announce which countries can be visited without quarantining this summer.
Portugal, Iceland and Malta are among those expected to be on the travel green list as well as Gibraltar and Israel.
Travel will be permitted again when restrictions ease further on May 17 with a new traffic light system in place.
This means destinations on green, amber and red lists will have different rules in place to avoid the spread of Covid-19.
It comes after data showed Yorkshire has six of the ten worst coronavirus infection areas.
COVID-19: India coronavirus strain set to be declared variant of concern in England iwradio.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from iwradio.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Health experts “haven’t seen any hint” at the moment of a Covid variant that can fully evade the effectiveness of vaccines, a leading scientist has said.
Sharon Peacock, head of the Covid-19 Genomics UK Consortium (COG-UK) and professor of public health and microbiology at the University of Cambridge, said it could be the case that coronavirus mutates to become less infectious, though she warned it could take years for it to become like the common cold.
Asked whether a variant will emerge somewhere across the globe that is resistant to current vaccines, Prof Peacock told Times Radio: “That’s what we’d call it, a variant of major concern. We haven’t seen anything like that to date, and the question you’re asking is the million dollar question in many ways, everybody wants to know what’s the likelihood and when is it likely to occur, if at all.