The telegraph
Holiday islands are expected to be removed from the UK’s “green list”.
Vacation islands are expected to be banned from the government’s “green” overseas travel list this week, despite lower Covid rates compared to the mainland. Ministers from the Spanish, Greek and Portuguese islands called on the UK government to hold on to its promise to create separate “travel corridors” with them if they lift the foreign travel ban on May 17. Grant Shapps, the transport minister, said last month, the government’s new traffic light ratings for countries will treat islands regardless of a higher covid rate or lower vaccination rate on the mainland. However, the “green” list for travel without quarantine, which will be published on Thursday or Friday, is likely to be limited to a “tiny handful” of countries, including Gibraltar, Israel, Iceland and Malta. Most European nations will be on the “Amber” list, which will require a 10-day quarantine upon arrival in the UK. Countries with amber ratings are likely to include Spain, Greece, France and Italy and their islands. Portugal is the only major European holiday destination with a chance of being on the green list from May 17th. The blanket Spanish ban would include the Balearic Islands, whose Covid case rate of 33 is less than a quarter of the Spanish and Canary Islands of the few countries, the Foreign Office does not advise against travel and has vaccinated 30 percent of its adult population. Iago Negueruela, the Balearic Islands Tourism Minister, told The Telegraph: “The British Government [should] Take into account the epidemiological situation of individual regions and not of different countries. “We have … the technology available to sequence the virus and its strains at a higher percentage than any other region [one of four factors set by the UK Government]. We have gone to great lengths to contain the pandemic and the epidemiological numbers for the islands are among the best in Europe. “
