What's the Situation for Scuba Diving Holidays this Summer?

May 1, 2021 - Dive Magazine UK

Image and Article contents provided by Dive Magazine UK 

Indications are that, in just a few week's time, travel corridors will be opened up for tourists to flee the confines of lockdown. There will be a traffic light system in place with different criteria for PCR test requirements and periods of quarantine and how that quarantine will be applied upon returning to the UK. 

According to various reports in the UK press, a country's position on each list will be decided on the following criteria:

• The percentage of the destination country’s population that has been vaccinated
• The current rate of infection in that country
• The prevalence of 'variants of concern' (eg the South African variant; Brazilian variant, etc.)
• The destination country’s access to reliable scientific data and genomic sequencing capabilities

The requirements for each list on the traffic-light system, as posted on the UK Government's Travel Taskforce website at the time of publication, are as follows:

GREEN: arrivals will need to take a pre-departure test as well as a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test on or before day 2 of their arrival back into England - but will not need to quarantine on return (unless they receive a positive result) or take any additional tests, halving the cost of tests on their return from holiday. (Note - some news outlets are reporting that you will need a second test after 8 days but the government guidelines say this is not the case.)

AMBER: arrivals will need to quarantine for a period of 10 days and take a pre-departure test, and a PCR test on day 2 and day 8 with the option for Test to Release on day 5 to end self-isolation early

RED: arrivals will be subject to restrictions currently in place for ‘red list’ countries which include a 10-day stay in a managed quarantine hotel, (at your expense) pre-departure testing and PCR testing on day 2 and 8...

Read on this page for more information @  http://divemagazine.co.uk/travel/9360-are-we-holiday-scuba-diving-this-year?awt_a=8l6Q&awt_l=GTImU&awt_m=3ghwKbsRqKgV46Q