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Many countries around the world still find themselves unable to shake off the grip of the Covid-19 pandemic, with several different nations tightening their lockdown restrictions once more in the past week in order to turn the tide in the war against coronavirus.
Despite this, the UK is still set to go ahead with its planned easing of their lockdown next week, much to the relief of both the millions of Brits and those around the world keen to travel there. However, the British Prime Minister has urged those wanting holidays to be realistic – here’s the latest on the UK’s Covid-19 situation.
The Statistics That Led To Lockdown Easing
As an island nation, theoretically, the UK’s borders should be easy to secure, resulting in fewer cases of Covid-19. However, weak, indecisive and slow action by the government led to millions of cases in the UK, along with several lockdowns and flight bans imposed on British flights by other countries around the world.
Yet despite more than 4 million cases of the virus and over 120,000 deaths, the situation in the UK is looking up. The country now has a rolling average of just 3,493 daily cases – far below its peak of almost 70,000 daily cases. On top of that, the UK has also given a single dose of the vaccine to more than 30 million citizens. The fall in cases and rise in vaccinations has led to the country being in the position to roll back its strict lockdown restrictions.
UK Lockdown To Be Eased – Information For Travelers
Britain is set to be the envy of Europe from next week, with its tough three-month lockdown set to come to an end on April 12th. Whilst schools in the country were allowed to reopen last month, Monday’s easing of restrictions – labelled Stage Two – will see life in the country drastically change, as several businesses will be permitted to reopen.
The changes will include:
- All shops allowed to open once more
- Hairdressers and beauty salons can re-open
- Restaurants and pubs allowed to serve food and alcohol (but only to those outdoors)
- Gyms, spas and zoos can reopen
- Weddings and funerals can be attended, albeit with smaller crowds
- Children allowed able to attend any indoor children’s activity
- Visitors to care homes will increase to two per resident
English citizens will also be permitted to travel domestically. Those in the same household can go on a holiday in England in self-contained accommodation, giving travel lovers a taste of what they have been missing for months.
Travel abroad will have to wait for the time being, with international leisure travel meant to resume following Stage Three easing no earlier than May 17th. However, that may be in doubt; despite Prime Minister Boris Johnson said they are hopeful that this could be the case, he also urged people to be realistic, and announced: “We’re not there yet”. The announcement has cast doubts over whether or not British travelers will be able to go on holidays in the near future.
Traffic Light System
Johnson also revealed details about the UK’s proposed traffic light system of dealing with travel from abroad. Countries are set to be placed into three different tiers – green, red and amber – depending on the Covid-19 situation in each country. Those arriving from a “green” country will not be required to isolate upon arrival – though Johnson admitted it was too soon to say which countries would be in which tier. More information on this system is expected once the UK has clarified its situation regarding the resumption of international travel.
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This article originally appeared on TravelOffPath.com
Rich
Friday 16th of April 2021
The traffic light system comes from the redlist which the Home Secretary Priti Patel introduced. it has been used against almost all nations were high infection rates and new strains. The exception is India which has yet to be red listed with both high infection and death rates as well as new strains. Ms Patel is of Indian heritage; it is unkown whether this has played a role in the Government's choices.
Liberty
Tuesday 6th of April 2021
For anyone who has been following recent events...the UK government is "choosing" to lighten the lockdown because Brits are finished with this nonsense. People have been protesting, flooding into parks, gathering in all sorts of places. The government can't contain them so it conveniently declares it will loosen up...
Witness
Saturday 10th of April 2021
@Liberty, spot on!