UK Waives Quarantine Requirements For Fully Vaccinated From Europe, US

A passenger pulls her roller suitcase on arrival in Terminal 5 at Heathrow airport in London, England.
DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP via Getty Images
– A passenger pulls her roller suitcase on arrival in Terminal 5 at Heathrow airport in London, England.
Fully vaccinated arrivals from amber countries in the EU and the US won’t have to go through 10 days of quarantine from Aug. 2, but still have to take two tests.

The UK government has announced that fully vaccinated travellers from Europe and the US won’t have to undergo a 10-day quarantine, which will ease touring considerably for vaccinated artists and their teams, effective Aug. 2.  

One caveat: the country in question needs to at least be on the UK’s so-called amber list of countries. There’s red, amber and green.
Travelers from amber countries will still be required to complete a pre-departure test before arrival into England, alongside a PCR test on or before day 2, but they won’t have to quarantine for 10 days and do a third test on day eight, which is currently the rule for travelers.
It will continue to be the rule for non-vaccinated people as well as for those arriving from France. 
Greg Parmley, CEO of the UK’s live music industry body LIVE said, “We are extremely pleased to see that government has taken the decision to allow people into the UK without the need to quarantine, if they have been fully vaccinated in Europe or the USA.  
 
“This will allow international artists to perform at our world-leading festivals and venues over the coming months and will provide a vital boost to our iconic live music industry as we come out of lockdown.”
For the time being, artists traveling from France still need to quarantine. The British government explained its decision with the fear of the Beta variant of COVID – a move described as “excessive, and (…) frankly incomprehensible on health grounds,” by French Europe Minister Clement Beaune on LCI TV. “It’s not based on science and discriminatory towards the French,” he said, adding, “I hope it will be reviewed as soon as possible, it’s just common sense.” 
He explained that the Beta variant represented “less than 5% of cases in France” and was mainly  found in France’s overseas territories like Réunion.