mikeyfly

Probably 5.25pm if it's like other announcements

cauchy

If the newspapers sources are scientists rather than politicians, then really the rumours are just indicative of the science lobby pushing back on the green list, which we always knew they would do.

I guess we’ll see what the political decision is later on - but if this uncertainty continues it might be cheaper for BA to furlough more staff for the rest of the summer, making a later ramp up very difficult.

RGS5526

Has any information emerged about rates of infection among those returning from green countries? Or does Test and Trace not concern itself with such details?

IAN-UK

The googly would be Portugal restricting access to UK visitors. Not likely, but it's best to be aware that things can change.

Whether it's fair or not, domestic reporting hasn't been entirely sympathetic to UK visitors and there's some nervousness waiting for impacts from the tourism, sporting fixtures and the relaxing of local restrictions.

LCY8737

If not Portugal, then maybe one of the other attractive destinations on the green list...

Israel, currently very exciting with lots of action and adventure. Or a beach holiday in Iceland, I hear the black sand is not that cold when the sun shines directly on it. Or of course AU, NZ, SG (assuming one has a diplomatic passport and thinks it is fun to holiday in a quarantine hotel with room service).

Let's face it - holidays in 2021 are only for those who are very tolerant of disruption. The rest should stay home.

lost_in_translation

You forgot Gibraltar, the true unspoilt gem of the Mediterranean with many empty beaches just waiting for tourists (population density is marginally below Hong Kong, after all...)

Tafflyer

I observe this too.

Despite being in Munich right now, I am a permanent Portuguese resident. There is a huge fear that the early opening to British tourists (and football fans) will cancel out the hard work of getting Covid numbers down. The ecenomy desperately needs the income, particularly in the Algarve but not at any cost. I would not at all be surprised by moves by Portugal if Indian variant trends in the UK continue.

As for the UK travel traffic light system, I‘ve always thought this was set up to control where Brits travel to rather than who can enter or closely following global trends. It‘s all a question of optics.

As for BA, it‘s been nice seeing the aircraft regularly taxiing into position recently, but my gut feeling is that this is, for now, temporary.

13901

That was barking mad. I've seen photos from friends in Porto of fans behaving as if it was a normal away day in the sun, minus perhaps the worst vandalism. To have staged that game abroad when both teams were English, only because (as it's alleged) UEFA crooks couldn't be bothered to self-isolate once here is crazy.

And there's worse to come with the Euros.

Schind

There is data collected but the figures announced yesterday in an IATA press release were from before the traffic light system came in so doesn't include 'green' countries.

For some reason IATA believe 2.2% of all incoming passengers tested getting a positive result after previously being negative means we should open up more. Strange logic if you ask me but that's for another thread.

• Between 25 February and 5 May 2021, 365,895 tests were conducted on arriving passengers to the UK. These were PCR negative before travel. Only 2.2% tested positive for COVID-19 infection during universal quarantine measures after their arrival. Of these, over half were from “red list” countries, which were considered very high risk. Removing them from the statistics would result in test positivity of 1.46%.
• Of the 103,473 arrivals from the EU (excluding Ireland), 1.35% tested positive. Three countries, Bulgaria, Poland and Romania, accounted for 60% of the positive cases.

IATA - From Data to Travel Freedom

sigma421

BBC reporting that Portugal is off the green list

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-57340860

GumshoeW12

Indeed. And straight to amber.

kingcole974

I bloody hope the BBC are wrong. I hope the ministers also remember the Amber watchlist

Edit: Green watch list

BAeuro

The whole system is a mess...AGAIN!

What happened to the ‘Green Watchlist’, why arent there more ‘Green’ countries?

If they remove Portugal and don’t add anything else, then the industry is screwed.

Malta should definitely be green, it has lower cases and high vaccinations than the UK. It doesn’t hold a risk.

Tobias-UK

Indeed, that is exactly what I thought when I saw the BBC report.

jsdickinson

Well looks like we need someone to start selling a day 8 test. Already have my day 2 test ready to go. Shame it's gone to amber but we were always taking a risk travelling at the moment