Travel news - live: Vaccinated travellers head off for Europe amid new quarantine exemption rules

New rules came into effect at 4am

Mykonos is now on the menu for fully vaccinated travellers

Thousands of travellers arriving in the UK are encountering drastic changes in self-isolation rules.

The main change for British passengers who have been fully vaccinated by the NHS is that they no longer need quarantine for 10 days when arriving from “amber list” countries – such as Spain, Italy, Greece and the US.

The first beneficiaries were aboard British Airways flight 262 from Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, which touched down just 33 minutes after the 4am change in rules. Two more flights from amber list locations, Lagos and New York, had arrived by 6am.

The first ferry to arrive from an amber list location was Stena Line from Hook of Holland to Harwich, which docked at 6.30am.

Passengers must still provide a negative coronavirus test result before departure to the UK, and pre-book a post-arrival PCR test.

Key points

• Fully vaccinated travellers won’t need to quarantine from amber countries from today
• Ireland now only country Britons can visit without restriction
• Transport services affected as staff are ‘pinged'

[19 July 2021 09:00 · Cathy Adams]

Quarantine exemption begins today

The quarantine exemption for double-vaccinated Britons returning to England, Wales and Scotland today from amber countries will take effect.

It means anybody arriving from now amber-listed Balearics, or elsewhere in Europe, will follow “green” rules: one pre-departure lateral flow test and a day two PCR test.