The pressure to reopen international travel will, I think, be greatly outweighed by the pressure not to let the pandemic get out of control again and risk another national lockdown. Polls show that most people are fed up with the lockdown but also support a very cautious lifting of restrictions.

well, it also helps that many countries will not be keen to open their borders before there is a stabilization and lowering of numbers in those countries. i mean just look what they were saying in spain the other day about not opening before july at the earliest.

Actually, the government's advisors are expecting another post-vaccination Covid wave, so really all a "cautious lifting of restrictions" does is change the timing of the 3rd wave. And I suppose it makes people think something is being done.

Not to start up another row here.. but everyone should be taking it regardless of it’s for travel or not.. one of the key issues stated during today’s briefing was the average uptake of 66%.. that’s ultimately 46% of the pop where the virus can still spread and evolve and render current efforts useless.

This 🙌

No it's 34% of the pop and Whitty said that included children where they are still trialling if they can have one, so the remainder will be a lot lower.

My bad, so it is... that is also true - but it also includes those who have refused and as such my points remains.

Have a go at converting any BAME family or colleagues you might have also then.

I think now that we are facing the possibility of foreign travel from mid-May, lets push everyone to really stick to the laws and do our bit to get infection rates and deaths even lower, so hopefully soon we can begin to plan for some travel in the summer.

Do you think the rules as they are now will stick until 16th May then ie tests, quarantine, hotels etc?

I think there will be a good chance we return to travel corridors ala last summer. I have no idea how long, but sincerely hope we get rid of hotel quarantine once Groups 1 - 9 are vaccinated.

It seems like these vaccines are better than expected in every way - this is according to the medical chiefs with the PM tonight. In fact I think the vaccine at one point was described as a 'miracle'. Based on this, once all the priority groups have been vaccinated, I see no reason for borders to be closed 3 weeks after that date. IMO one test on day 2 or 3 after arrival, from 'green countries' really should be all that is required.

Is there some risk? Absolutely. However, there is risk in our lives every single day. You take a risk by crossing the street, getting in a car or playing sports. Risk is a part of life. It is about how that risk is managed.

In the case of Covid, when all the vulnerable population is vaccinated - sure there will be risks of people coming from overseas. But that must be balanced with the damage everyday of severely reduced economic activity on the physical and mental health of this population.

Covid-0 was possible last year if we had kept cases really low and isolated ourselves from the world immediately. If we want to achieve that now, we would be in severe lockdown for 12 - 18 months. People advocating for that are completely out of touch with reality.

That's just my opinion however.

The point I'm trying to make might come out wrong, so apologies in advance if it does, and I will edit my post if necessary.

The ICU nurses see the very worst form of Covid - it's definitely real, and it's absolutely terrible for everyone involved. But for every 1 "previously fit 40-something" they see, there are probably thousands, if not tens of thousands, of "fit 40-something" Covid cases which are a lot milder: it is not the whole Covid story. I guess the really difficult bit about working in a hospital is seeing everything that goes wrong - the 20-something in a wheelchair because they drunkenly jumped off an Ibiza balcony, the 30-something that's lost their leg in a bicycle crash, the 40-something who's had an unexpected heart attack whilst out for a run - but also knowing that the vast majority of Ibiza trips, cycle rides and runs end without incident. The trouble with Covid is simply we all - non-medics and medics - are not good at understanding the risks it brings. Perhaps this is because we've not been trusted to (e.g. all the fuss about foreign holidays - seriously, if people do the home quarantine after the holiday they're a risk to no-one - and that's before we even factor in that many destinations have lower Covid risks than staying in the UK). We're going to have to get better at understanding and managing the risks in the months ahead.

Paula, if you're fed up, I don't think you should care. Book an airbnb in your favourite sunspot for the next month or two, tell anyone who asks that you're moving abroad, and then come back to the UK when the madness is in abeyance?

Thanks fed up being an understatement. I've just cancelled my favourite apartment in Tenerife for 2 weeks over Easter, next trip is an Airbnb yes but have a return ticket lol but after 17th May so will give it some thought.

A thank you to everyone involved with this crisis in helping us get through it. It really does suck.

But yes a little more patience is definitely going to help us all.

We will then soon be back to chatting (or bickering) about the lack champagne in business/first, the crumbs between the seats and the dreaded bare feet on the furniture!

We will get there. Stay healthy everyone. :)