Foreign holidays may return soon for the British

Foreign holidays are back on the cards in the UK after Prime Minister Boris Johnson admitted he will lift coronavirus travel curbs.

The UK Government is still in talks with countries in a bid to persuade them not to quarantine UK tourists when they arrive, the Mirror reports. Favourites including France, Spain, and Greece, are among the destinations as quarantine restrictions are lifted for people returning from those countries.

However, it remains unclear whether British nationals could be forced into self-isolation as they begin their holidays.

An official announcement is expected next week when the Prime Minister is expected to confirm deals for “air bridges” or “travel corridors” have been struck with some overseas governments. Britons would be able to begin their trips to those destinations the following week.

A traffic light system will decide which nations are safe to travel to, with those classed as green or amber available to holidaymakers. Britons holidaying in “green” or “amber” countries will not have to self-isolate for 14 days when they get back.

The traffic light system, drawn up by the Joint Biosecurity Centre, comes as the Government finishes the first review of its quarantine regime. The controversial scheme was introduced on June 8 by Home Secretary Priti Patel. She claimed it would minimise the danger of arrivals from abroad bringing the infection to the UK.

But critics said Britain had a higher rate of disease than many of the countries from which people were travelling. They insisted a 14-day isolation for foreign arrivals should have been introduced at least three months earlier when coronavirus was spreading around the globe.

But foreign governments could still look at Britain’s death toll – the highest in Europe – and decide they want to quarantine arrivals from the UK.

A Government spokesman said: “Our public health measures at the border were put in place to manage the risk of imported cases and help prevent a second wave of the virus, and will continue to support our fight against coronavirus.

“Our new risk-assessment system will enable us to carefully open a number of safe travel routes around the world, giving people the opportunity for a summer holiday abroad and boosting the UK economy through tourism and business.

“But we will not hesitate to put on the brakes if any risks re-emerge, and this system will enable us to take swift action to re-introduce self-isolation measures if new outbreaks occur overseas.”

The aviation and travel industries have been pleading with ministers to thrash out air bridges with countries where the risk of contracting Covid-19 is deemed low.