Travel UK news live: Latest green list updates as France looks likely to shed ‘amber plus’ status

The variety of flights British Airways will function from the US to the UK will enhance later this month.

It comes after double-vaccinated travellers from the US and EU nations – besides France – had been allowed from 4am on Monday to enter the UK with out the necessity to self-isolate on arrival.

Current flights between New York’s JFK Airport and London Heathrow will enhance to 21 per week (up from 17) from 16 August.

The variety of flights from Los Angeles and Chicago will enhance to 10 per week (up from seven) from the identical date.

From 23 August, the variety of flights between Seattle and Heathrow will enhance to seven flights per week (up from 4). Flights from Los Angeles will enhance once more to 14 flights on the identical date.

Sean Doyle, British Airways chairman and CEO, mentioned: “This transfer may also assist increase the British financial system and the hospitality sector, which like aviation, has been crippled by the consequences of the pandemic.”

A traveller has appealed to the UK authorities to problem full refunds to these staying in a quarantine lodge which he says is infested with rats.

The 25-year-old from York, recognized solely as Anthony, contacted his MP Rachael Maskell after he checked into the Mercure Lodge at Heathrow to quarantine beneath authorities pointers.

Travellers returning to the UK from “purple listing” nations must pay £1,750 for a 10-day isolation.

He informed the Labour MP that, since 24 July, he had been compelled to maneuver rooms at the least twice because of the rats getting into alongside poorly boxed-in pipes.

Ms Maskell has reported the scenario to the Division of Well being and Social Care.

Sky Information reported that Mercure Inns mentioned {that a} pest management skilled had discovered “no proof of pest exercise”.

New York Metropolis will turn out to be the primary huge US metropolis to require proof of vaccination in opposition to Covid for patrons and employees at indoor venues.

The coverage will likely be enforced beginning 13 September for bars, eating places, gyms, and leisure venues.

It’s much like measures taken in France to curtail the unfold of coronavirus, notably the extra contagious strains such because the Delta variant.

“We all know that is what’s going to show the tide,” New York mayor Invoice de Blasio informed a information convention.

The sporting of face masks won’t be made obligatory however is very beneficial, he mentioned.

Scotland is creating an app to permit vaccinated individuals to journey overseas, Nicola Sturgeon mentioned right this moment.

The First Minister mentioned that the app, which is beneath growth, would assist facilitate journey abroad and will probably be used as proof of vaccination for attending home venues and occasions.

Ms Sturgeon added that she was “extremely cautious” concerning the home use of Covid passports however she wished to think about whether or not they might play a job sooner or later.

As she introduced the transfer past Stage 0, she mentioned the Scottish Authorities was contemplating “very fastidiously the attainable, albeit restricted, use of Covid standing certification for entry to sure greater danger venues in future”.

She harassed that no choice on the home use of Covid standing certification had been taken but.

Morocco is rolling out new lockdown guidelines, together with an evening curfew, in an try to curb a pointy enhance in Covid instances and deaths.

From right this moment, the curfew will likely be in place from 9pm till 5am.

Journey to and from Marrakech, Casablanca and Agadir may also be banned, aside from these with a vaccine passport certificates.

The North African nation has recorded 8,760 new Covid instances and 64 deaths in 24 hours – figures launched right this moment present.

Round 54,000 individuals in Morocco are at the moment contaminated with the virus, which is its highest quantity thus far.

The nation’s Ministry of Well being expects the present wave of infections to peak over the approaching days, based on English-language web site Morocco World Information.

A report every day variety of 9,428 new instances was recorded on 28 July.

Morocco is at the moment on the UK’s amber journey listing for arrivals.

Getting a correct night time’s sleep on a long-haul flight is now not the unique protect of enterprise class passengers, because of a brand new initiative from Lufthansa.

The German provider this week launched ‘Sleeper’s Row’, which permits passengers to e-book a complete row of financial system class seats and switch them right into a mattress throughout the flight.

A skinny mattress, blanket and pillow are supplied, together with a particular seat belt to allow the passenger to be strapped in whereas mendacity down.

With as much as three Sleeper’s Rows per flight, the brand new seating arrange is topic to availability on the time of check-in or boarding, so can’t be booked upfront.

Boris Johnson confronted contemporary calls to ease worldwide journey restrictions because the fallout continued from a choice to desert plans for a brand new watchlist.

The concept of an “amber watchlist” for nations susceptible to being moved into the purple class has been ditched following ministerial infighting, Tory backbench opposition and criticism from the journey business.

Whitehall sources have blamed Transport Secretary Grant Shapps for the fiasco, whereas Labour accused the Authorities of being liable for “reckless U-turns and confusion”.

In the meantime, it has emerged the top of the Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC), which advises on the journey guidelines, has quietly left her publish with out a successor being appointed.

The amber watchlist plan was killed off on Monday however the bitter briefing wars across the coverage continued in Westminster, with Mr Shapps the main target of consideration.

“The Division for Transport got here up with this coverage, briefed it, briefed in opposition to it, then blamed the Prime Minister,” a Whitehall supply informed The Instances.

Ministers are anticipated to think about any modifications to the visitors gentle system later this week.

The UK authorities is on the verge of scrapping obligatory lodge quarantine for passengers who arrive into the UK on connecting flights through “airport hubs”, it has been reported.

At present anybody passing via a purple listing nation should full 10 days’ (11 nights’) lodge quarantine on arrival within the UK, at a value of as much as £1,750 per particular person, even when they solely transited via a red-list nation’s airport to catch an onward flight.

The potential change within the guidelines would enable those that stay airside throughout transit to keep away from purple listing guidelines – offering they don’t depart the airport – and as a substitute observe the foundations related to the nation their journey originated in.

Some 45 per cent of Brits mentioned that they’d select trains over planes for journey based mostly on larger sustainability, based on new analysis.

A brand new survey performed for Omio by YouGov reveals that attitudes have shifted, with 57 per cent of Brits now prepared to vary their most well-liked mode of transport to a extra environmentally-friendly possibility.

Nonetheless, pricing continues to be a key motivator: 49 per cent can be extra prone to change to rail journey purely if the ticket worth was cheaper than flying.

Virtually a 3rd of the greater than 2,000 UK respondents would fortunately settle for a barely longer journey if it had a constructive impression on the surroundings, with virtually a 3rd prepared to spend as much as a further half-hour travelling, and 16 per cent content material to double that to as much as 60 minutes longer.

Boris Radke, VP of company affairs, mentioned: “Omio has all the time sought to spotlight the convenience of constructing sustainable decisions by offering clear details about the price, time and environmental impression of journey throughout totally different modes of transport.

“We proceed to problem the widespread notion that flying is the quickest and most price efficient possibility and our current survey reveals there was a shift within the methods Brits select to journey pre and publish Covid.

“As we emerge from a worldwide pandemic and journey resumes, we hope to encourage customers to think about they will help sustainable journey whereas probably saving money and time.”

Thailand, Georgia and Iran are seemingly candidates to be moved to the UK authorities’s purple listing of “excessive danger” nations on the upcoming evaluation of worldwide journey guidelines, based on specialists.

The following announcement is predicted to happen on 5 August as a part of the Division for Transport’s tri-weekly replace of the journey visitors gentle lists.

Impartial information knowledgeable Tim White flagged the three locations as potential purple listing additions on account of hovering Covid-19 infections, with Thailand and Iran each surpassing their earlier information for whole new every day instances.