Travel news latest: Holiday U-turn as Portugal exempts under-18s from quarantine

Portugal has confirmed that children under the age of 18 will not have to quarantine on arrival, so long as they are accompanied by a fully vaccinated parent or guardian.

The news follows days of chaos and confusion, after the Portuguese government added the UK to a list of countries which requires travellers to provide proof of being fully vaccinated or to quarantine for 14 days “at home or a place indicated by the health authorities”.

Initially it appeared only children under 12 were exempt from the policy, leaving many family holidays in doubt.

However, tourist board Visit Portugal has now stated that children between 12 and 18 will be able to show evidence of a recent negative Covid test to avoid self-isolating. This must be either a PCR test taken 72 hours before departure or a rapid lateral flow test taken 48 hours before departure.

Different rules apply for newly green-listed Madeira which doesn’t require UK travellers to have had both jabs and only asks for a pre-arrival PCR test.

Mainland Portugal remains on the Government’s amber list, meaning that arrivals must self-isolate for 10 days (with the option taking a test to be released early). The next international travel review is due on July 15.

Scroll down for more of today’s travel headlines.

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8:50AM

Red list restrictions come into effect for six more countries

The Government has officially moved six countries, including popular holiday destinations Tunisia and the Dominican Republic, from the amber list to the red list.

British residents in those countries had until 4am this morning (June 30) to return to avoid a costly hotel quarantine.

Uganda, Eritrea, Haiti and Mongolia have also been added to the red list, joining the 50 countries previously on the list such as Turkey, the UAE, Qatar and South Africa.

8:40AM

Sajid Javid opens way for EU travel to resume with NHS app

Sajid Javid is set to pave the way for reopening travel to EU countries with a new NHS app that is ready to bypass Angela Merkel’s quarantine demands, reports Charles Hymas.

The app has been updated to serve as a Covid passport that will enable British travellers to prove they are fully vaccinated, show a negative pre-departure test or show that they have had the virus in the past 180 days.

It is now ready to be integrated into the EU’s identical green pass system, which will allow people to travel freely throughout the bloc by revealing their vaccination or test status at borders.

Read the full story here.

8:35AM

Green list update comes into effect

Holiday horizons have expanded today, after popular islands including Malta, Madeira and the Balearics were officially added to the updated green list.

As of 4am this morning (June 30), those returning from an extra 14 countries and territories, including a clutch of Caribbean islands, will no longer have to self-isolate. The additions bring the total number of quarantine-free destinations to 25.

Malta is now officially on the green list

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People arriving from green list countries have to provide a negative Covid test within 72 hours of departure and then pay for a PCR test on or before their second day back in the UK.

However, excitement has been tempered by the creation of the ‘green watchlist’, which all the new entries – bar Malta – have been placed on. These destinations are “most at risk” of being downgraded to “amber” at short notice, leaving holidays in limbo.

8:08AM