LONDON: The UK government said late Wednesday it will ease English entry rules and will move the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar and India to its “amber” list of countries for travel after being on the red list, which requires a costly 10-day hotel quarantine on arrival.
The change will come into effect at 4:00 a.m. (0300 GMT) on Sunday.
Britain will also require arrivals from France to quarantine even if they are fully vaccinated, following its latest review of travel curbs, which puts France back on England’s “amber” list under its traffic light system for arriving travelers.
The government last month eased the rules to allow people from amber countries fully jabbed with a vaccine approved by regulators in the United States and European Union to enter without having to self-isolate.
However, arrivals from France were the exception.
Britain said it acted over fears about the prevalence of the Beta strain, even though it mainly affected France’s overseas territories, particularly La Reunion.
But furious officials in Paris called the move “discriminatory.”
France now rejoins dozens of other countries on the amber list — including many EU members and the US — which mandates virus tests before and after arrival for those jabbed in those territories.
Others must self-isolate at home for 10 days.
Other changes to the rules — which are reviewed every three weeks — will see Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Slovakia, Latvia, Romania and Norway added to the green list.
Travelers in that designation must only take COVID-19 tests before and after entering England, regardless of their vaccination status, and do not have to self-isolate.
Meanwhile, Georgia, Mexico, and France’s Indian Ocean territories of La Reunion and Mayotte will be moved onto the red list.
“We are committed to opening up international travel safely,” Britain’s Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said in a statement.
“While we must continue to be cautious, today’s changes reopen a range of different holiday destinations across the globe, which is good news for both the sector and traveling public.”
The UK government in London determines health and travel policy for England. The devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland governments set their own and have broadly adopted the same measures.
Britain has been badly affected by the coronavirus pandemic, with 130,000 deaths within 28 days of a positive test since the outbreak began.
But the government has gradually eased restrictions, as vaccination numbers increased, cutting numbers of hospital admissions with COVID.
Some 88.7 percent of all adults have now had a first dose, and 73.2 percent two doses, according to the latest government figures.
UK moves UAE, Bahrain, Qatar and India to amber list for medium-risk travel
https://arab.news/cw5sg
UK moves UAE, Bahrain, Qatar and India to amber list for medium-risk travel
- Britain will also require arrivals from France to quarantine even if they are fully vaccinated
- The government has gradually eased restrictions, as vaccination numbers increased
France honors fallen soldiers in Afghanistan after Trump’s false claim about NATO troops
- In an interview with Fox Business Network in Davos, Switzerland, Trump on Thursday claimed that non-US NATO troops stayed “a little off the frontlines” in Afghanistan
PARIS: A senior French government official said Monday the memory of the French soldiers who died in Afghanistan should not be tarnished following US President Donald Trump’s false assertion that troops from non-US NATO countries avoided the front line during that war.
Alice Rufo, the minister delegate at the Defense Ministry, laid a wreath at a monument in downtown Paris dedicated to those who died for France in overseas operations. Speaking to reporters, Rufo said the ceremony had not been planned until the weekend, adding that it was crucial to show that “we do not accept that their memory be insulted.”
In October 2001, nearly a month after the Sept. 11 attacks, the US led an international coalition in Afghanistan to destroy Al-Qaeda, which had used the country as its base, and the group’s Taliban hosts.
Alongside the US were troops from dozens of countries, including from NATO, whose mutual-defense mandate had been triggered for the first time after the attacks on New York and Washington. In an interview with Fox Business Network in Davos, Switzerland, Trump on Thursday claimed that non-US NATO troops stayed “a little off the frontlines” in Afghanistan.
Ninety French soldiers died in the conflict.
“At such a moment, it is symbolically important to be there for their families, for their memory, and to remind everyone of the sacrifice they made on the front line,” Rufo said.
After his comments caused an outcry, Trump appeared to backpedal and heaped praise on the British soldiers who fought in Afghanistan. He had no words for other troops, though.
“I have seen the statements, in particular from veterans’ associations, their outrage, their anger, and their sadness,” Rufo said, adding that trans-Atlantic solidarity should prevail over polemics.
“You know, there is a brotherhood of arms between Americans, Britons, and French soldiers when we go into combat.”
