The UK government announced it is relaxing its quarantine requirements from 19th July for fully vaccinated travellers. However, the sticking point for Brits living in Italy is the vaccine must be from the British National Health Service.
The British government’s announcement is good news for Brits wishing to travel abroad. However, it currently excludes ex-pats living in countries such as Italy.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced on Thursday that, from July 19th, people visiting amber list countries including Italy would no longer have to quarantine on arrival back in England. The proviso is they have received the full vaccine dosage.
Grant Schapps said, “Thanks to our successful vaccine rollout, we’re now able to widen quarantine-free travel to NHS administered fully vaccinated adults and children under the age of 18, and take another step towards fully reopening international travel.”
However, the majority of UK nationals who live in Italy will not benefit. Why? The vaccine must be administered by the NHS. Regardless of whether they are fully vaccinated or not, Brits will still have to quarantine when visiting the UK.
Any UK nationals living in Italy who had their jabs in Britain can, however, travel quarantine-free.
Phased approach to relaxation of quarantine
There is a particularly galling element to all this. The UK government is admitting 1,000 football fans for Sunday’s final match between Italy and England.
The government’s announcement on their website does indicate a phased approach to relaxing travel restrictions.
“The government is taking a phased approach to amending requirements and is already exploring plans to remove quarantine for vaccinated non-UK residents arriving from amber countries later this summer where it is safe to do so.”
As and when that will happen depends on the course of the pandemic.
The Test to Release scheme remains an option for non-fully vaccinated travellers returning from amber countries to shorten their quarantine period. To do so, they need to pay for a private test. If the result is negative, the quarantine period will end.
What are Italy’s rules on travel from the UK?
From 21st June to 30th July, on arrival in Italy travellers who have been in the UK in the previous 14 days must present a negative molecular or antigen test taken in the 48 hours preceding entry into Italy.
They must also fill in a digital localisation form. Following arrival, they must self-isolate for 5 days. Aafter those 5 days they must take a rapid antigenic or molecular swab test for COVID-19 and test negative for release.
