As Jutarnji.hr reports, the United States, Gibraltar, Israel, and Iceland will be on the ‘green’ list of eight countries or territories that the British government plans to mark safe for travel from May 17, according to a survey commissioned by the travel sector there.
According to that model, the list should include Malta and Ireland, but also Australia and New Zealand, which currently keep the borders closed to foreign tourists, writes the Daily Telegraph.
The latest report was produced by Robert Boyle, a former chief strategist at British Airways, and confirmed the British government’s announcement that only a handful of countries would be put on the green list when the UK ban on travel abroad for unnecessary travel is lifted on 17 May.
Most European countries are still on the orange list, which means that every tourist returning from such countries must be placed in 10-day house isolation, or on the red list, which means that returnees from those countries must be quarantined at a hotel for about 2,000 euros per person.
Although according to the British government’s criteria, France, Turkey, the Netherlands, Croatia, Sweden, Belgium, and Luxembourg should also be on the red list, this is very unlikely to happen for political and economic reasons, according to the Telegraph.
Split Airport (Pixsell)
It is well known that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is known as a frequent guest on the Adriatic coast during the summer months. He has visited, among other places, Brač, Mljet, and the Dubrovnik area.
Spain, Greece, Italy, and Cyprus, popular tourist destinations, are on the orange list due to high infection rates but could be on the green list until June 28, when the government plans to revise the list.
‘‘Last year, the Spanish and Greek islands were in the group of low-risk countries due to covid as opposed to the mainland and this could happen again this year’’, the report said.
The report ranked 52 states according to four government criteria: vaccination rate, the incidence of new infections, the prevalence of virus strains, and virus genome sequencing capacities. The information obtained was arranged in one table, and only five countries /territories: the USA, Israel, Gibraltar, the United Arab Emirates, and Malta, exceed the green limit of 30 percent of the population who received a single dose of vaccine. However, that table excludes Australia and New Zealand, which have successfully stopped the spread of the virus.
Only seven countries are on the green list thanks to the low infection rate – up to 50 cases of coronavirus per million inhabitants: China, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Iceland, and Gibraltar.
Turkey, Luxembourg, Finland, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, and South Africa are in the worst position due to the high percentage of new strains per million inhabitants, while Slovenia, Slovakia, Japan, Bulgaria, Australia, and New Zealand are in the best position by that criterion.
The countries with the best capacities for sequencing the virus genome are the Netherlands, Ireland, and Luxembourg.
Gibraltar is the safest with zero cases of coronavirus and a fully vaccinated population. Israel must be next in all likelihood. It has vaccinated almost the entire population, and the number of new cases is below last year’s threshold.
Australia, New Zealand, Iceland, and Ireland are followed by the United States, although the report states that they may not be on the green list if the number of new infections does not fall.
‘‘The United Kingdom could allow countries that are on the orange list by the number of newly infected to go green, but only if they had a high vaccination rate. Thus, in theory, Malta and the United Arab Emirates could be on the green list’’, the report said.
EasyJet CEO Johan Lindgren said he expected Croatia, along with France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, and Turkey, to be put on the green list.
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