Kirsty Mckenzie
AT present it is illegal for anyone from England to leave the UK.
But Transport Secretary Grant Shapps this week said he would set out at the start of May when that could change.
That could mean summer holidays to Spain could be allowd as soon as May 17.
There is expected to be a traffic light system setting out how safe destinations are, with different countries categorised by varying degrees of quarantine restrictions.
Counties will be placed on green, amber, or red lists to determine if you need to quarantine or undergo further tests when you’re back in the UK.
Anyone travelling to countries awarded green list status will not have to isolate when they return to England.
Shapps revealed that ‘in the next couple of weeks’ he will give details of the ‘green list.
Speaking to Sky News, he also confirmed that the NHS app will be used as a vaccine passport once overseas travel restarts.
Shapps said the NHS England app is being converted into a vaccine passport to allow people from the UK to demonstrate whether they have had a vaccination or tested negative for the virus before they travel.
The Transport Secretary told Sky: “It will be the NHS app that is used for people when they book appointments with the NHS and so on, to be able to show you’ve had a vaccine or that you’ve had testing.
“I’m working internationally with partners across the world to make sure that system can be internationally recognised.”
It comes as Spain’s Secretary of State for tourism insisted that the nation “would be ready” to welcome international tourists under a digital health certificate that would show they are free of Covid.
Fernando Valdes explained at the World Travel and Tourism Congress in Cancun, Mexico, that the EU-wide scheme would be trialled at airports across Spain during the month of May and would be ready to go by the start of June.
This follows comments from Minister Reyes Maroto said on Monday that the current situation relating to the covid pandemic and vaccination roll-out would permit the authorities to start considering the option of once more opening up to national and international travel from June.
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