US maintains travel ban on UK residents over Delta variant fears
The White House has maintained a travel ban on the UK and the EU’s schengen zone due to fears over the highly transmissible Delta variant.
The ban has now been in place since last March when it was implemented by former President Donald Trump.
A White House official told Reuters today: “Given where we are today with the Delta variant, the United States will maintain existing travel restrictions at this point.
“Driven by the Delta variant, cases are rising here at home, particularly among those who are unvaccinated and appear likely continue to increase in the weeks ahead.
“The administration understands the importance of international travel and is united in wanting to reopen international travel in a safe and sustainable manner.”
The announcement will be a serious blow for the aviation industry, after there were hopes just last month that UK-US travel could reopen before the end of summer.
Boris Johnson and Joe Biden agreed to launch a new taskforce at last month’s G7 summit in Cornwall to discuss reopening cross-Atlantic travel.
However, the high prevalance of the Delta variant in the UK and the rest of Europe seems to have put the taskforce off track.
When asked about the future of the US’ travel restrictions on Europe earlier this month, Biden told journalists that he would “be able to answer that question to you within the next several days — what is likely to happen”.
It comes as Number 10 confirmed today that it will release a review this week into its traffic light system for international travel, with the status of vaccinated tourists to be considered.
There have recently been reports that the “amber plus” list, which was introduced to restrict travel from France amid a surge in Covid cases, could be scrapped as part of the review.
The Prime Minister’s spokesperson confirmed today that the review will be released this week and that it will consider the different restrictions for people travelling from red, amber and green list countries.
“We’ve spoken about traveling to the US and EU and that will be a part of our review into international travel,” they said.
“We keep these measures under review and we’re continually reviewing the latest scientific evidence and data.
“It will definitely look at vaccines for international citizens.”
Currently, the government only allows people to avoid quarantine when arriving from amber list countries if they have been double-jabbed in the UK.
There have been widespread calls to expand this to include those who have received two jabs of any UK-approved vaccine, regardless of where they were administered.