Foreign Office quashes prospect of alignment with traffic lights
Rob GillThe Foreign Office has confirmed that its travel advice will remain “independent” of decisions made about a country’s red list status, quashing the travel trade’s hopes of alignment between the two.
Five countries, including Egypt, Sri Lanka and the Maldives, which were moved from the UK government’s red list earlier this week are still effectively off the travel list after the FCDO maintained its advice against all non-essential travel due to Covid-19 reasons.
The FCDO confirmed that some countries currently on the amber list will continue to have an advisory against international travel. This advice rules out most leisure travel to these destinations because they will not be covered by insurance policies.
“This is because FCDO travel advice and the traffic light system relating to inbound travel to the UK are independent processes which consider different risks,” said the FCDO.
“FCDO travel advice considers the risk to British nationals travelling overseas and measures where there is an unacceptably high risk to an individual in a country overseas.”
It also stressed that all travel advisories remain “under constant review to ensure they reflect the most up-to-date information and advice”.
Of the eight countries moved off the red list this week, only Turkey, Kenya and Oman have had their Covid-specific travel advice lifted by the FCDO. This leaves the other five – Bangladesh, Egypt, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Pakistan – with their Covid advisories still in place.
The Department for Transport added in a statement: "It is important to note that traffic lights and FDCO travel advice are independent processes which analyse different measures and risks.
"Measures at the UK border aim to mitigate the overall risk to UK public health of inbound travel to the UK."
The traffic light system is due to end on 4 October when it will be replaced by a single red list with all other countries being classified as “rest of the world” instead of green or amber.
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