International Flights Latest News Today: The good news is that from October 4, the Indian travellers will also no longer need to take pre-departure PCR tests for travelling to England.

International Flights Latest News Today: Here comes a piece of good news for Indian fliers who are planning to visit the UK. As the COVID cases went down, the UK on Friday announced a major relaxation of international travel rules for vaccinated people coming in and out of England. Issuing fresh guidelines, the UK said that from October 4, the current traffic light system of red, amber and green countries based on levels of COVID risk will be scrapped and will be replaced with one red list only.Also Read - Gujarat Lockdown: Ahmedabad Bans Unvaccinated People From Using Public Transport From Sept 20

“Today’s changes mean a simpler, more straightforward system. One with less testing and lower costs, allowing more people to travel, see loved ones or conduct business around the world while providing a boost for the travel industry,” UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps was quoted as saying by PTI. Also Read - BMC's Latest Sero-Survey Report Finds Over 86% of Mumbai's Population Have COVID-19 Antibodies

As per the new guidelines, the scrapping of an amber list, which is what India is currently on, means reduced cost burden for Indian travellers related to quarantines and PCR tests. Also Read - Karnataka Lockdown: Officials Take Strict Action Against People For Entering State Without RT-PCR Test Report

The good news is that from October 4, the Indian travellers will also no longer need to take pre-departure PCR tests for travelling into England.

“Public health has always been at the heart of our international travel policy and with over 44 million people fully vaccinated in the UK, we are now able to introduce a proportionate updated structure that reflects the new landscape,” UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps added.

According to the latest update, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are among eight red list destinations moved off the travel ban list from next Wednesday.

The UK in its guidelines stated that from the end of October, fully vaccinated passengers from non-red list countries will be able to replace the current compulsory day-two PCR test requirement with cheaper lateral flow tests. However, it said that any traveller testing positive will need to isolate and take a free confirmatory PCR test, which would be genomically sequenced to help identify new variants.