Chile to reopen to double jabbed travellers from October

Fully vaccinated arrivals will still have to quarantine for five days

Salar de Talar and surrounding volcanoes, Atacama Desert, Chile (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Chile has announced plans to reopen to international travellers who have had two doses of the Covid vaccine from 1 October.

Double jabbed travellers who want to visit will also have to present a negative Covid test result taken in the 72 hours before arrival, as well as quarantining for five days after landing.

They won’t have to quarantine in a government-mandated hotel or facility, but must share the address they’ll be isolating at with government officials.

Other small print includes having purchased travel insurance with a minimum coverage of $30,000 (£21,835), filling in a medical questionnaire and keeping in touch with authorities for the first 14 days of a visit.

At present, Chile along with much of South America is on the UK’s red list, meaning anyone returning from there must spend 11 nights in a quarantine hotel at their own expense.

This will remain the case from 4 October, when several of the Covid travel rules are set to change, but it is thought that the red list will continue to be reviewed every three weeks, with countries removed and added as case rates drop or increase.

In the meantime, anyone looking to have a Chilean adventure could potentially “launder” their red list status by spending 10 days in one of the amber list (soon to be ROW list) European countries that operate direct flights - such as Spain, Germany or the Netherlands - before returning to the UK.

The Chilean health ministry says 84.6 per cent of the population has had two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.

Argentina is also set to open its borders to fully vaccinated foreign tourists from autumn, with health minister Carla Vizzotti announcing earlier this week that international borders would open on 1 November.

Double jabbed visitors to Argentina will have to show their vaccination status, with the second injection having taken place at least two weeks before arrival in Argentina, and show a negative PCR test result taken within the 72 hours before travelling.

Once there, fully vaccinated passengers will have to take a PCR test between days five and seven after arrival, but will not have to quarantine.

Argentina will also admit the unvaccinated, including children, at this stage, but they must self-isolate for a week and have a negative PCR test to be released at the end.

Uruguay has also announced plans to allow fully vaccinated foreign tourists in from 1 November.