The UK government has announced that it is relaxing its quarantine rules, replacing the existing measures with a traffic light system.
The new measures will take effect from early July.
Countries will be allocated a green, amber or red label, depending on the level of coronavirus in the destination.
Only passengers arriving back from red category countries will have to self-isolate for 14 days, but all travellers will have to give an address where they plan to stay on their return.
The full list of countries and their corresponding countries will be announced later this week.
In a written statement to Parliament on Monday, Transport secretary Grant Shapps said the UK’s 14 day quarantine measures had contributed to keeping the number of Covid-19 transmissions in the UK as low as possible and helped protect the UK from a second wave of coronavirus.
Shapps also said that the Government “will shortly begin to ease the health measures at the UK border” and allow passengers arriving in the UK to be exempt from self-isolation requirements in certain circumstances.
The exemptions will apply to passenger arriving by rail, boat and plane by the creation of air bridges.
Shapps said the decision has been made after the Joint Biosecurity Centre, Public Health England and the Chief Medical Officer developed a categorisation of countries considered low risk for coronavirus.
However, he warned that even though travellers from some countries won’t need to self-isolate, they must continue to follow the public health advice on hand hygiene and social distancing.
