Where will Sri Lanka be in UK's holiday traffic light system?

In the UK, all non-essential overseas travel is currently banned. This means that foreign holidays are not permitted. These restrictions will not be lifted until at least May 17. For England, when holidaying is allowed, destination countries will be put in one of three colour-coded categories, depending on a range of factors, such as:-

1. Proportion of a country’s population that has been vaccinated.
2. Rates of infection.
3. Emerging variants.
4. Testing and sequencing capacity

Different rules, depending on which colour - coded country they visited, will apply for returning travelers:-

• Green:Passengers will not need to quarantine on return, but must take a pre-departure test, as well as a PCR test on return to the UK.
• Amber:Travelers will need to self-isolate at home for 10 days, as well as taking a pre-departure test and two PCR tests.
• Red:Passengers will have to pay £1,750 for a 10-day stay in a managed quarantine hotel, as well as a pre-departure test and two PCR tests. 

40 countries are on the current ‘red list’, including:-

• Middle East:Oman, Qatar and United Arab Emirates (UAE)
• Africa:Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Cape Verde, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
• Asia:Bangladesh, Pakistan, Philippines.
• South America:Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela.

Countries can be added to the red list which is updated on a weekly basis - meaning any destination could be added with very short notice.

Essentially, new data / evidence would be used to continually analyse the current trajectory of country vaccination and infection rates. This would include:-

1. Percentage of population vaccinated once.
2. Infections/100,000 over 7 days cumulative
3. Infections/100,000 over 14 days cumulative
4. Percentage change in 7 days infection in last week.

Thereafter countries will move between the red, amber and green lists depending on the data. Additionally, there will be a "green watch list", to give people notice if a country is about to move to amber, or red.

According to research,(yet to be confirmed though), both Malta and Portugal could be on the green list, as they have low case numbers, and Malta’s vaccination figures are the best in the EU, with around 28 per cent of adults having received the jab. Other ‘go to green’ countries could include Israel (60% of population vaccinated) and Gibraltar (92% vaccinated).

Countries such as Australia, New Zealand and Singapore that have had a tight grip on the pandemic would be in the ‘green’. However, these countries are not welcoming any tourists.

The EU’s vaccination rates are low, with most countries having only vaccinated around 10 per cent of their populations. Based on vaccination and case data, Spain, Greece, Cyprus and turkey are likely to land on the ‘amber zone’. France, Germany and Italy are in a most difficult position where Infection rates are high and in France in particular, figures have been rising.

As to in which colour category Sri Lanka would find itself in…we will know in May 2021.

Hospitality Sri Lanka.

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