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Coronavirus: Full list of countries exempt from COVID-19 travel quarantine revealed

The list of 70聽places where English holidaymakers can visit without self-isolating on their return.

Alan McGuinness

Digital politics assistant editor

Friday 10 July 2020 09:05, UK

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More than 70 countries and territories are exempt from England's coronavirus travel quarantine rules.

British holidaymakers returning and people arriving from those nations do not need to isolate for 14 days when they get back, but they will have to provide an address where they are staying.

Fourteen British Overseas Territories are included. Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man were already exempt.

Scroll down for the full list

Among the countries not on the list are the US, Portugal, Sweden, Mexico, Brazil, Russia, Iran, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and China.

Serbia was originally included on the exemption list, but was later removed after further analysis from the Joint Biosecurity Centre and Public Health England.

It comes after a surge in infections led to the Serbian government reimposing restrictions, that, in turn, sparked days of violent protests in the capital, Belgrade.

The exemptions for countries still on the list will apply from 10 July.

The Department for Transport said the approved destinations pose "a reduced risk to the public health of UK citizens", but the list will be kept "under constant review".

Reciprocal arrangements between England and overseas nations have not been confirmed.

It is Downing Street's "expectation" that a number of exempted countries will also not require arrivals from the UK to self-isolate.

Officials "continue to work closely with international partners around the world to discuss arrangements for travellers arriving from the UK," the government has said.

However, some of the countries on the list are not allowing tourists.

Australia and New Zealand are open only to their own citizens or permanent residents, for example. Another example, Vietnam, is only open to Vietnamese nationals, foreigners on diplomatic or official business, and highly skilled workers.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are setting out their own approach to exemptions.

The first ministers of Wales and Scotland have criticised the UK government's "shambolic" handling of its coronavirus travel quarantine.

Portugal was also displeased after being left off the list, with the country's foreign affairs minister calling the decision "absurd".

However, Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa said earlier this week that talks were underway with the UK to discuss the exclusion.

He said the foreign minister had had "a long conversation" with his counterpart, Dominic Raab, stressing that it was "very important we build a confident relationship".

And the UK government's chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance hinted that the earlier quarantine imposed on travellers to England was not supported by scientific evidence.

He said: "Our advice has been clear that quarantine makes most sense and can be used effectively when people are coming from countries with higher infection rates than the ones we have here.

"That's where quarantine is a measure that would make a difference."

The full list is as follows:

The Foreign Office which countries will be exempt from its advice against all but "non-essential travel".

This will mean that people can travel to a number of destinations overseas with regular travel insurance policies.

Shadow transport secretary Jim McMahon said: "Labour, like families and businesses up and down the country, are keen for the government's quarantine measures to be lessened, but this is a mess.

"First we had the quarantine that they were slow to implement, then they said they'd do air bridges.

"Now we see a plan to let residents of 60 or more countries into England without any reciprocal arrangements."

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