Simon Calder predicts which countries may join green list

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If Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s “roadmap” for resuming travel goes to plan, Britons could be jetting off on holiday as soon as May 17. This will be dependent, however, on which nations are categorised as “green”, “amber” and “red”.

Though the Government has yet to confirm which countries are being looked at for the “green” list, travel experts are already making their predictions.

According to Simon Calder, there is one nation in particular which is his “banker”.

In fact, the travel journalist is so confident he has even booked his first post-lockdown flight to the destination.

Speaking on his podcast You Should Have Been There Mr Calder said: “Confirmation that anyone planning to leave the UK on or shortly after May 17 when travel abroad no longer is illegal will get a maximum of two weeks notice of what the rules are going to be when they return.

“And my banker for the green list is Gibraltar, along with probably Israel and maybe Malta and almost certainly Iceland.

“Already I’ve booked the first flight of that day to Gibraltar with British Airways.”

Though experts are taking guesses based on Covid rates and vaccination programmes around the world, the Prime Minister has said it is too soon to speculate over which nations will make the cut.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Mr Johnson said: “I’d love to be able to give you a clear rundown of the countries that we think will be red, amber or green.

“We won’t be able to do that at this stage.

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“As we have said the Global Travel Taskforce has reported but what they have said is that we are really going to need to wait until early May before we can say which countries are on the list.

“You can see some of the troubles and problems that some of our friends are currently having so I think it would be premature to speculate about that.

“I am sorry about that but we will be saying as much as possible as soon as we can before May 17.”

He added that countries will remain under “constant review”.

This means sudden changes could occur if coronavirus data proves it necessary.

Britons will be able to visit “green” countries without having to self-isolate on their return home.

They will, however, be required to take a COVID-19 test before they depart for the UK.

They will then need to take a PCR test on day two of their arrival back home.

COVID-19 test packages should be arranged before they jet off.

“Amber” nations will see Britons having to self-isolate at home for 10 days on their return home.

Travellers will also need to take a test before they depart for the UK.

This will be followed by tests on day two and day eight of their self-isolation.

The self-isolation period can be shortened by opting into the “Test to Release Scheme”, where a test is issued on day five.

Meanwhile, quarantine hotel rules and travel bans will continue to apply for “red” list countries.

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