Accurate as of: 01 September 2021
Current UK status
Visit https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/ for all official information.
- As of 4pm on 1 September 2021, a total of 266,162,196 coronavirus (COVID-19) tests have been conducted in the UK. 6,825,074 people have tested positive.
- 48,086,605 people have had their first dose of the vaccination, while 42,908,022 have been fully vaccinated.
- 156,199 patients in the UK who tested positive for COVID-19 have died.
UK travel restrictions:
Visit the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office website for all official information.
- The UK government has amended its travelling abroad policy, so that travellers no longer need a ‘valid reason’ to travel abroad, opening international trips up to holidaymakers once again.
- In order to enter the UK from a green list country (or an amber list country for fully vaccinated Brits), a negative Covid-19 test must be completed 72 hours before travel and presented to staff on planes, trains, and ferries in order to board. A further test must be completed at the travellers’ expense before day two of their return.
- In order to enter the UK from an amber list country, a negative Covid-19 test must be completed 72 hours before travel and presented to staff on planes, trains, and ferries in order to board. For unvaccinated travellers, a further two tests must be completed at the travellers’ expense on days two and eight, and they must self-isolate for 10 days. Fully vaccinated travellers do not have to self-isolate, and simply need to take a day two test upon return.
- People entering the UK from high-risk countries, or “red” countries, will have to quarantine in a hotel at their own expense for 10 days.
Latest updates:
- Ryanair’s chief executive has told Sky News the UK should scrap its “bizarre” rules governing foreign travel, saying they are holding the country’s economy back. The airline’s boss argues that the traffic light system governing foreign holiday destinations is harming the economic fightback from coronavirus restrictions as it reveals more jobs and destinations from its London airports. (Sky)
- RyanAir has also announced its winter schedule from London bases, with new additions to Ryanair’s winter schedule from London will include flights to the Canaries, Italy, Finland and Croatia. (TTG)
- The Welsh government could scrap a ban on travellers using private Covid tests when returning from abroad. Rules say travellers from Wales should use NHS tests, costing £68 each, when going overseas or face a £1,000 fine. (Travel Weekly)
- The EU has removed six countries, including the US, from a Covid “white list” of places whose tourists should be permitted entry without restrictions such as mandatory quarantine. Many EU countries reopened their borders to Americans in June, in the hope of salvaging the summer tourism season although most required a negative test ahead of travel. (Guardian)
- The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has endorsed the European Commission’s EU Digital Covid Certificate and urged countries to use it as a standard for their own certificates. The EU Digital Covid Certificate (DCC) shares travellers’ Covid-19 vaccination and testing status and has been implemented in the 27 member states of the European Union. (Business Travel News Europe)
- The Foreign Office (FCDO) is advising against non-essential trips to Jamaica due to the “current assessment of Covid-19 risks.” Jamaica is currently on the UK’s amber list, which means fully-jabbed travellers must take a test within three days before arriving into the UK and take another test on or before day two. (Travel Weekly)
- Holiday comparison brands TravelSupermarket and Icelolly.com have completed a merger deal first proposed in May. (TTG)
- There has been a rush of double-jabbed Britons to book holidays to Italy after a change to the travel regulations, experts have said. New changes this week see Italy drop its requirement for fully vaccinated Britons to quarantine on arrival. (Evening Standard)
- British Airways aims to launch a self-service account management portal for corporate clients by the end of this year. Head of sales Mark Muren told BTN Europe the portal will allow travel managers to view reporting, such as performance against deal targets, and access “all things news-oriented and administrative. It will also be a place where waivers and favours are able to be executed, hopefully in a fairly seamless way.” (Business Travel News Europe)
Social media:
- Facebook has announced a new experiment which will see it de-emphasize political posts and updates about current events in user feeds, in response to ongoing user feedback. Facebook will also limit the amount of political content that people see in their News Feeds, which could have a transformative impact on broader engagement- both on and off the platform itself. (Social Media Today)
- TikTok is expanding its in-app parental controls feature, Family Parking, with educational resources designed to help parents better support their teenage users, the company announced this morning (1st September). The pairing feature, which launched to global users last year, allows parents of teens aged 13 and older to connect their accounts with the child’s so the parent can set controls related to screen time use, who the teen can direct message, and more. (Tech Crunch)
- With the Paralympics beginning this week, Twitter has announced a new set of features to help users engage with the event, and follow along with the latest updates, including a new hashflag for Tweets that use the #Paralympics hashtag, (Social Media Today)
- TikTok is expanding its relationship with Shopify to provide more ways for Shopify merchants to promote their products direct to their audience on the app. Today, TikTok has announced a new shop tab extension for Shopify merchant profiles, which, as it sounds, will add a new product display showcase to your in-app presence. (Social Media Today)
- LinkedIn have announced that it will suspend its Stories feature on September 30 and begin working on a different way to add short-form videos to the platform. LinkedIn announced the upcoming change to warn advertisers who might have already purchased ads that would run in between Stories. Those will instead be shared on the LinkedIn feed, but users who promoted or sponsored Stories directly from their page will need to remake them. (Tech Crunch)
- WhatsApp privacy fears means Telegram is becoming the next ‘go to’ messaging app. The secure messaging app Telegram has become one of only 15 apps worldwide to be downloaded more than one billion times, joining the likes of TikTok, Twitter and Netflix. According to app store analysts Sensor Tower, it passed the milestone over the weekend, fuelled by a boom in downloads in its key markets of India, Russia, and Indonesia. (Daily Star)
