Spain spared red list in latest traffic light update

Austria, Germany, Latvia, Norway, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia, meanwhile, have all been added to the green list, and India, Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE to the amber list.

Georgia, La Reunion, Mayotte and Mexico will be added to the red list, addressing the anomaly whereby France was assigned amber plus status due to the Beta variant situation in far-flung Reunion, while Reunion itself remained amber.

The changes will come into effect from 4am on Sunday (8 August).

The DfT said the changes concerning France would "align the country with the rest of the amber list", and cited a fall in the proportion of Beta variant cases for its decision – despite the spike understood to have been related to cases in La Reunion, which is a French department in the Indian Ocean – 6,000 miles away from the French mainland.

And as briefed by prime minister Boris Johnson earlier this week, there will be no introduction of an "amber watchlist". It means that combined with the decision to scrap amber plus, the traffic light regime will return to just four categories – green, green watchlist, amber and red.

’Additional precaution’

Transport secretary Grant Shapps said the government was "committed to opening up international travel safely". "While we must continue to be cautious, today’s changes reopen a range of different holiday destinations across the globe, which is good news for both the sector and travelling public," said Shapps.

On Spain, the DfT said: "The additional precaution of a PCR test as passengers’ pre-departure test is being recommended for travellers from Spain given the risk to the UK of importation of variants of concern, specifically the B.1.621 and Beta variants, as well as traveller volumes and positivity rates in Spain.

"Positive samples from PCR tests can be genomically sequenced, allowing us to detect and understand more about variants of concern."

Mexico has been added to the red list owing to "increasing incidence" in the country and "the presence of the B.1.621 variant first identified in Colombia", said the DfT.

The cost of 10 days’ in managed hotel quarantine will also increase from £1,750 to £2,285 for single adults, with the cost of an additional adult rising to £1,430.

The DfT said the price hike would "better reflect the increased costs involved with providing their quarantine". These include transport to the hotel, security, welfare services and day two and eight PCR tests.