Britain to relax some Covid-19 travel restrictions for Cop26

There will be five days of quarantine for vaccinated delegates from red-list countries

A protester from the Climate Coalition in Parliament Square, London, on July 23. Reuters

Britain will relax some travel restrictions to help delegates attend the UN climate conference in Scotland this year, including a shorter quarantine for those from "red list" countries who have been vaccinated.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has pushed for November's Cop26 to be in-person, believing direct negotiations will achieve more against global warming.

A UN panel said on Monday that climate change was close to being out of control.

But with many countries experiencing increases in Covid-19 cases, concerns have been raised that thousands of delegates from around the globe could make the November summit a super-spreading event.

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A Cop26 official said the measures for the summit in Glasgow would strike a balance between allowing the talks to proceed and protecting public health, with regular testing taking place.

The official said that while many measures were based on current regulations, they would also include "specific arrangements" for Britain's traffic-light system used to rate countries on their Covid risk.

"This includes a reduced quarantine period of five days for vaccinated individuals from red-list countries," the official said.

"There will be no requirement for self-isolation on arrival to the UK for those coming from amber or green list countries, whether vaccinated or not."

Unvaccinated people from red-list countries would still need to enter quarantine for 10 days, the official said.

Delegates would be encouraged to get fully inoculated, with Britain offering vaccines to all those registered.

A government representative said a report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change showing that greenhouse gas levels would guarantee climate disruption for decades proved Cop26 was a "necessary event".

"We know that achieving the ambitious global action needed to tackle climate change requires everyone sitting around the same table," the representative said.

"To achieve this we have been working tirelessly to make arrangements for an in-person event.

"We believe these arrangements strike a balance between allowing critical climate talks at this exceptional event to continue with representation from around the globe, while continuing to have measures in place to protect public health."

Updated: August 9th 2021, 10:49 PM