Could South Africa be dropped from the UK Red List on 16th September?

Stephen Hickmore – Over the past week there has been much debate about which countries will be dropped from the restrictive quarantines set by the UK government. A move from Red list to Amber list on 16th September will give a much needed boost to the South African hospitality industries prospects for an upturn in tourist bookings.

Decisions to move between Red, Amber or Green status are governed by the following indicators:

• The percentage of a country’s population that have been vaccinated
• The rate of infection
• The prevalence of variants of concern
• The country’s access to reliable scientific data and genomic sequencing

Here are some of the destinations that are tipped to move from red to green or amber, which means double-vaccinated travellers do not have to quarantine on their return;

According to the latest data – along with Turkey, the Seychelles and Thailand – South Africa is tipped to move to the amber list on Thursday. This will mean that people arriving in the UK will not have to quarantine in government appointed hotels at the cost of 2,250 pounds per person. Instead they can quarantine for a period of 10 days at home and take a pre-departure test, as well as a PCR test on day two and day eight of their return. There will be the option to take an additional test on day five to end self-isolation early. The easing of the enforced hotel stay when returning to the UK will effectively open up the South African tourism industry to UK travellers.

It has also been reported that the UK will drop it’s traffic light system at the beginning of October 2021 thus allowing fully vaccinated individuals to travel to and from South Africa.

Opinions of Stephen Hickmore