Turkey among 37 countries affected by new UK vaccination rules

British government has amended vaccination criteria for arrivals from 37 countries from Monday

Passengers queue at Border Force desks at Heathrow. Reuters

Passengers queue for the Arrival Hall at London Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5, due to a problem with the self-service passport gates.

Picture take with permission from the twitter feed of @ChristianDJones of closed self-service passport gates as passengers arriving at Heathrow are being forced to wait in long queues or are being held on planes due to a problem with self-service passport gates.

Picture take with permission from the twitter feed of @ChristianDJones of passengers queuing for the Arrival Hall at London Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5, due to a problem with the self-service passport gates.

Passengers in a waiting lounge at Bristol Airport on October 3 ahead of the relaxation of travel rules in the UK. Getty Images

From October 4, the UK is simplifying its traffic-light system governing international travel, retaining only a "red list" from which arrivals must quarantine in government-designated hotels. Getty Images

Heathrow Airport has in recent weeks been hit by delays for passengers arriving. Photo: Shona McCallin / Twitter

A glitch in e-gates at Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5 caused long delays for arrivals. Photo: @johnny_sutton / Twitter

A member of staff cleans a sign at Heathrow's Terminal 5 in west London as quarantine restrictions ease. AFP

Passengers arrive at Heathrow. EPA

Greeted with an embrace at Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5. AFP

Loved-ones arriving from the US at Heathrow. AFP

A mother holds a sign for her son as she waits for him at Terminal 5. AFP

Visitors from 37 countries will be able to enter the UK from 4am on Monday if they can prove they have had an approved vaccine.

The government will now recognise vaccines for arrivals from countries including Brazil, Ghana, India, Pakistan, South Africa and Turkey.

Approved vaccines for UK arrivals include those produced by Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.

The decision means fully vaccinated people entering England from these locations will be exempt from quarantine, the pre-departure test and the day eight test. They will still have to take a test on day two of their stay.

No date has been set for when eligible fully vaccinated arrivals will be able to use a lateral flow test for their day-two test, rather than the more expensive PCR version.

The government said its “ambition” is for this to be in place “for people returning from half-term breaks by the end of the month”.

Travellers will be able to send a picture of their lateral flow test result as a minimum requirement to verify its accuracy and keep prices down when day-two tests switch to lateral flow this month, followed by a free PCR test if positive.

The move follows a government announcement on Thursday that Covid-19 red list travel restrictions will be reduced to seven countries − Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Haiti, Panama, Peru and Venezuela.

Seven countries are still on the UK red list for travel, including Haiti. This is a view over Cap Haitien in the Caribbean country. All photos: Alamy

Fishing boats and the skyline of Panama City, Panama, another country on the red list.

Travel is still restricted to Peru, site of Machu Picchu, the ruins of an ancient Inca Empire city in the Cusco region.

The slums of Caracas in red-listed Venezuela.

A view of Bogota, the capital of Colombia, also still on the red list.

Sunset near Las Galeras village in the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti and its neighbour's red-list status.

Guayaquil city, Ecuador, at sunset. Red-list restrictions still apply for travel to and from the South American country.

“Our robust border measures have helped protect the phenomenal progress of our vaccination programme, and it is because of this success both here and around the world that we can safely open up travel further and we can visit friends and family abroad," British Health Secretary Sajid Javid said.

“We’re now making it easier and cheaper for people to travel by allowing fully vaccinated travellers from non-red list countries to use lateral flow tests on day two of arrival, as long as they provide proof of use.”

British Airways said it would resume services and increase frequencies to some winter sun destinations being removed from the red list, such as Cape Town and Johannesburg, in South Africa, Mexico City and Cancun in Mexico, Sao Paulo in Brazil; and Buenos Aires in Argentina.

“It finally feels like we are seeing light at the end of a very long tunnel," said the airline’s chief executive, Sean Doyle.

“Britain will benefit from this significant reduction in red list countries and now it’s time to turn our attention to eradicating testing for fully vaccinated travellers, to ensure we don’t lose our place on the global stage.”

A man and woman embrace at the arrivals department of Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5. Photo: Tolga Akmen / AFP

Charlie Cornish, boss of Manchester Airports Group – which owns Manchester, Stansted and East Midlands airports – said: “Removing so many countries from the red list gives people the most choice they have had since before the pandemic, which will help to stimulate the recovery of the UK’s prized aviation sector.”

Paul Charles, chief executive of travel consultancy The PC Agency, said: “It’s been a long time coming but at last we’re seeing the layers of complexity peeled away.”