Italy, San Marino and Vatican City State removed from UK travel corridors list

People arriving in England from Italy, San Marino and Vatican City State as of 18 October 2020 will need to self-isolate for two weeks as the countries are removed from the UK government’s travel corridors list. 

Data has indicated that weekly COVID-19 cases and test positivity are increasing in Italy, so ministers have made the decision to remove the destinations from the UK’s travel exemptions. 

The Greek island of Crete has been added to the travel corridor list following a decrease in confirmed cases of coronavirus. The Joint Biosecurity Centre’s (JBC) latest risk assessment for Crete indicates that the risks to UK public health from travellers returning from there has decreased to an acceptable level.   

From 18 October 2020, passengers arriving in England from Crete will no longer need to self-isolate, provided that they haven’t been in or transited through any other non-exempt countries in the preceding 14 days.

The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) has updated its travel advice to advise against all but essential travel to Italy and San Marino. The island of Crete is now exempt from the FCDO’s global advisory against non-essential travel.

The UK government has made it consistently clear that it will take decisive action if necessary to contain the virus, including removing countries from the travel corridors list rapidly if the public health risk of people returning from a particular country without self-isolating becomes too high.  

COVID-19 has profoundly changed the nature of international travel. Travellers should always check the latest advice from the FCDO to keep up to date with the latest information on the risks associated with travel to another country, as well as the entry rules and measures introduced by local authorities that may affect British travellers.

All travellers, including those from exempt destinations, will still be required to show a complete passenger locator form on arrival in the UK, unless they fall into a small group of exemptions.  

Penalties for those breaching the self-isolation rules when returning from non-exempt countries have increased from £1,000 for the first offence up to £10,000 for subsequent offences, mirroring penalties for those breaching self-isolation following a positive COVID-19 test or contact from Test & Trace.