It is three weeks since the UK Government announced quarantine measures, but promised to look into the viability of international "travel corridors" with countries with low rates of infection, and with which quarantine rules may be relaxed.

Today, it will announce that passengers returning to or visiting England from destinations including Germany, France, Spain and Italy, will no longer need to self-isolate on arrival from 10 July 2020, unless they have been in or transited through non-exempt countries in the preceding 14 days.

The change to the rules follows a risk assessment carried out by the Joint Biosecurity Centre and Public Health England with the chief medical officer.

Transport secretary Grant Shapps said it was "great news for British businesses".

"The entire nation has worked tirelessly to get to this stage, therefore safety must remain our watch word and we will not hesitate to move quickly to protect ourselves if infection rates rise in countries we are reconnecting with."

All passengers, except those on a small list of exemptions, will still be required to provide contact information on arrival in the UK, including details of countries or territories they have been in or through during the previous 14 days. Existing public health advice on hand hygiene, face coverings, and social distancing must also be followed.

The exemptions from self-isolation apply to all modes of international transport, including sea and international rail routes as well as flights.

The complete list of countries, which is reviewed regularly, is available here.

Understand exactly what is meant by 'self-isolate'.

In numbers

Variance in publicly reported numbers can be attributed to misreporting and under-reporting of infections and deaths.

For uniformity, our publication quotes data from the World Health Organisation, the UK Government and independent catastrophe risk modelling company, AIR Worldwide.

Domestic numbers from the UK Government show that, as of 09:00 on 2nd July, 283,757 people had tested positive for the virus. As of 17:00 on 1st July, of those who tested positive for coronavirus in the UK, across all settings, 43,995 have died, of which 89 in the prior 24 hours.

According to the WHO, as of 08:18 CEST, 3rd July, there had been 10,662,536 confirmed cases of COVID-19 globally, including 516,209 deaths.

AIR Worldwide's projection for T+1 week foresees 96.27 million cases, and 1.1 million deaths, which includes those who are currently infected.



For in-depth advice on a safe and secure return to work, listen to CIR's latest podcast.

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