UK Green List - extra routes ?
So on one hand countries are opening up to the U.K. yet on the flip side, some closing to them. Are people still not suggesting this is not political and all about the virus? Even more so in the case of France considering their risible genomic testing and what they have found is virtually every variant in the world already there.
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Its very political, in the case of France, but just a different wrapper this time. Their second biggest group of visitors in 2019 were from the UK..I would think they`ve just sunk their tourist business for this year, if not longer. Just wondering if Ryanair and Jet2 are about to pull the plug on most of their French `holiday` routes for this summer?..Bookings must be off a cliff this morning.
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It’s political in so far as it’s a Government decision, it’s not a ‘punishment’ against the politics of the UK as some are alluding to. Opening v Closing isn’t like with like, yes the UK is France’s biggest inbound tourist market but tourism is a much smaller part of France’s economy than it is in the likes of Croatia, Greece, Portugal, Spain. Therefore Austria, France, Germany can better afford not to take the risks associated with letting in UK travellers.
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And yet Austria deem it such a huge risk they're waiting until June 1st to implement the ban and are letting their football team travel to the UK (and return) for a friendly match.
That is little different to the timeframes between the UK putting Pakistan and India on the red list and then enforcing it. As and when reliable data comes out relating to firstly the transmissibility of the India variant, and second how well current vaccines respond to is you can't blame any country that hasn't already got it endemic in their populations from being cautious. International politics has no part in this, it's common sense.
Had the UK been a but quicker in closing down travel from the subcontinent then we may not be in this situation, however particularly with India itself, politics look as though they played a role, and the UK is paying the price for that political decision.
There is no point is tour operators and airlines putting on new services at present, and if the public had any sense they wouldn't be booking them just now. Be patient a few weeks and I believe that we'll all be in a better place, both knowledge and vaccination wise.
Had the UK been a but quicker in closing down travel from the subcontinent then we may not be in this situation, however particularly with India itself, politics look as though they played a role, and the UK is paying the price for that political decision.
There is no point is tour operators and airlines putting on new services at present, and if the public had any sense they wouldn't be booking them just now. Be patient a few weeks and I believe that we'll all be in a better place, both knowledge and vaccination wise.
AirportPlanner1
Exactly...unfortunately far too many people are still ******* obsessed with looking at stats of their choosing, turning them around and then claiming it's "all about us" (i.e. the UK) when in reality, guess what, it's not.
There's no denying some sectors will be hit..sadly though it's starting to look like the British Gite owners/second home owners will probably take another kicking from the restrictions, given it's often a case of that Brits will often book with British owners..
Exactly...unfortunately far too many people are still ******* obsessed with looking at stats of their choosing, turning them around and then claiming it's "all about us" (i.e. the UK) when in reality, guess what, it's not.
There's no denying some sectors will be hit..sadly though it's starting to look like the British Gite owners/second home owners will probably take another kicking from the restrictions, given it's often a case of that Brits will often book with British owners..
Last edited by wiggy; 27th May 2021 at 12:12.
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ECDC have release their weekly update. Generally cases in the EU are moving very clearly in the right direction, apart from some localised backsliding (the Azores in Portugal comes to mind - rules are being steadily tightened on the main island)
Malta is looking like an extremely strong candidate for the UK green list in early June. Finland and Romania are both looking good as well. Bulgaria and Poland are probably going to be the near-misses that don't quite make it to the green list next week
Malta is looking like an extremely strong candidate for the UK green list in early June. Finland and Romania are both looking good as well. Bulgaria and Poland are probably going to be the near-misses that don't quite make it to the green list next week
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The Indian variant is pretty widespread across Europe already.
The disadvantage we have is that we do more genomic testing that anyone else so it looks like we have more than there. There's a lot to criticise the UK for with the current pandemic, but the testing and gene sequencing parts have been a huge success. Many countries like France and Poland do very little.
I think the government has already made it clear they will focus on low Covid rates and look at islands and island groups if required. Though popular destinations from the UK like the Canaries and Balearics still have fairly, but not very, high Covid rates. Malta looks like a good bet.
The disadvantage we have is that we do more genomic testing that anyone else so it looks like we have more than there. There's a lot to criticise the UK for with the current pandemic, but the testing and gene sequencing parts have been a huge success. Many countries like France and Poland do very little.
I think the government has already made it clear they will focus on low Covid rates and look at islands and island groups if required. Though popular destinations from the UK like the Canaries and Balearics still have fairly, but not very, high Covid rates. Malta looks like a good bet.
So Ireland has now removed the quarantine requirements for the entirety of EU arrivals and the USA. And of course, the U.K. stays on this list over Indian variant fears. Maybe we shouldn’t be as honest as others...
Errr ... Not yet, they haven't. There are new rules as of 19th JULY, and the UK's treatment will depend on what the state is at that time.
https://www.gov.ie/en/press-release/...ational-travel
https://www.gov.ie/en/press-release/...ational-travel
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the testing and genomic testing is impressive but frustrating at the same time as we often seem to find the variants (which are more than likely already in lots of countries and aren’t of concern) yet the world and the media lose the plot and we are put on the naughty step. Can’t see how UK aviation and tourism industry can ever properly get going again in the situation outlined above
It appears that the Brits have been very good at picking up the new variants in the first place and I agree have become something of a victim of their own success in the genomic testing field but I'd be wary of assuming the likes of the French aren't now looking for the variant in the course of routine public testing/screening....
The Indian variant is in France for sure but as yet it is in relatively low numbers so fingers crossed. That is possibly because of the relative lack of historic links /family connections between France which meant there were fewer people arriving into France from India before a complete ban on direct flights kicked in in the third week of April, roughly 2000 passengers a week if the accompanying article is to be believed.
https://www.lepoint.fr/sante/la-fran...2423294_40.php
For those not aware one result of this is increased restrictions on those arriving into France from the Uk first thing Monday AM...
The Indian variant is in France for sure but as yet it is in relatively low numbers so fingers crossed. That is possibly because of the relative lack of historic links /family connections between France which meant there were fewer people arriving into France from India before a complete ban on direct flights kicked in in the third week of April, roughly 2000 passengers a week if the accompanying article is to be believed.
https://www.lepoint.fr/sante/la-fran...2423294_40.php
For those not aware one result of this is increased restrictions on those arriving into France from the Uk first thing Monday AM...
Perhaps there is some data missing, but this is from 2021-18 (3 weeks behind the latest output). Genomic sequencing per the ECDC. Risible levels of genomic sequencing despite the naval gazing from some of these nations. The ECDC recommends sequencing 10% of cases or 500 whichever is lower, so the likes of France are compliant.
Austria - 0.5% of positive cases
Belgium - 4.3%
Czech Rep - 0.2% (i.e. 18 out of over 10,000)
Denmark - 71.5%
France - 0.7%
Germany - 7.5%
Greece - 0.3% (i.e. 47 out of over 15,000)
Ireland - 27%
Italy - 1%
Lithuania - 0.7%
Malta - 30.8%
Netherlands - 1.5%
Norway - 1.7%
Poland - 1.1%
Portugal - 11.8%
Romania - 0.5%
Slovakia - 0.7%
Slovenia - 4.8%
Spain - 1.8%
Sweden - 1.1%
Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg were all showing nought.
20 of these countries sequenced the Indian variant. Spain, Italy, France, Norway, Poland, Portugal all found more than 2% of variants during this week. The Indian variant is there and has been for a long time already.
Austria - 0.5% of positive cases
Belgium - 4.3%
Czech Rep - 0.2% (i.e. 18 out of over 10,000)
Denmark - 71.5%
France - 0.7%
Germany - 7.5%
Greece - 0.3% (i.e. 47 out of over 15,000)
Ireland - 27%
Italy - 1%
Lithuania - 0.7%
Malta - 30.8%
Netherlands - 1.5%
Norway - 1.7%
Poland - 1.1%
Portugal - 11.8%
Romania - 0.5%
Slovakia - 0.7%
Slovenia - 4.8%
Spain - 1.8%
Sweden - 1.1%
Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg were all showing nought.
20 of these countries sequenced the Indian variant. Spain, Italy, France, Norway, Poland, Portugal all found more than 2% of variants during this week. The Indian variant is there and has been for a long time already.