The UK government is expected to relax travel and quarantine restrictions between certain European countries by early July.
Current discussions between the UK and various European countries could see Britons spending their summer in Spain, Portugal or Italy with no quarantine requirements.
UK officials are reportedly in discussions with the governments of Spain, Portugal, France, Italy and Green, in the hopes of securing a number of “travel corridors” between the UK and these countries.
These “travel corridors” would see residents on each end of the ‘corridor’ able to travel freely between the two countries, with no enforced quarantine or self-isolation period.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said, “We will only open up air bridges when it is safe to do so and there will be more on that on the review period on June 29.
“We are talking to airlines and talking to airports and will talk to other countries about it, but the basic principle must be that we don’t end up in a second wave situation.”
Portugal is likely to be among the first countries to open up a bilateral travel agreement with the UK, with both countries expressing great interest in the concept.
Portugal’s Foreign Minister, Augusto Santos Silva, previously welcomed the idea of an “air bridge” between the UK and Portugal, and hoped an agreement between the two countries could be secured by the end of June.
Manuel Lobo Antunes, Portugal’s ambassador to the UK, said the nation was keen to come to an agreement that would allow British tourists to return this summer, telling BBC Radio 4 that he believes “the situation is under control” and that the coastal country “would be happy to receive, as before, as many British as possible”.
It is expected that the UK government will make its official announcement post-negotiations about these various travel corridors on 29 June, with the first to come into effect as early as 4 July.
However, travellers arriving into the UK from places outside of these permitted travel corridors will still be required to self-isolate for 14 days after their arrival.
Fines apply for not complying with self-isolation rules.
Those entering the UK from the Republic of Ireland, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands are currently already exempt from these quarantine requirements, with some exemptions also in place for essential workers required to travel.
