UK eases travel restrictions for vaccinated Americans, Europeans

Britain on Monday let fully vaccinated travelers from the U.S. and the European Union back into the country, according to The Associated Press.

Travelers from places on Britain’s “amber list,” referring to the country’s traffic light system that rates countries according to their level of coronavirus risk, can enter without self-isolating for up to 10 days. Grant Shapps, England’s transportation minister, announced the move on Twitter last week, stating that the new rules were intended to “reunite people living in the US and European countries with their family and friends in the UK.”

David and Susan Handfield were two of the first to benefit from Britain’s revised travel policy Monday, as they showed up at Heathrow Airport to meet their granddaughter, born in February, for the first time, the AP reported.

“We’ve been waiting for this moment for quite a long time,” Susan Handfield said. 

British airlines hope the ease in travel restrictions results in a needed travel boom, with the number of travelers passing through London’s Heathrow Airport falling 75 percent in the first half of this year, according to the AP. 

Despite Britain’s change in travel policy for visitors from the U.S., it won’t be any easier for British travelers to visit friends and family across the pond. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) increased its travel advisory warnings to the United Kingdom to a level 4 of COVID-19 transmission last month, as the delta variant started to surge in many European countries.