Forex Trading For Beginners 2021: Covid: Summer holidays abroad 'unlikely', warns government adviser

Summer holidays abroad are "extremely unlikely" because of the risk of travellers bringing coronavirus variants back to the UK, a scientist on a government advisory body has said.

Foreign holidays are currently not allowed and returning travellers have to quarantine.

The UK faces a "real risk" if people are allowed to travel overseas in July and August, Dr Mike Tildesley said.

The earliest date people in England could holiday abroad is 17 May.

Anyone currently travelling abroad for one of a limited number of permitted reasons has to fill in a "Declaration to Travel" form, stating a valid reason for leaving the country, such as education or work.

Dr Tildesley, a member of the government's Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling, which feeds into Sage, said there was a danger holidaymakers could bring back variants, like the one that emerged in South Africa - which were less susceptible to vaccines.

Dr Tildesley told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I think that international travel this summer is, for the average holidaymaker, sadly I think, extremely unlikely.

"I think we are running a real risk if we do start to have lots of people going overseas in July, for instance, and August because of the potential for bringing more of these new variants back into the country.

"What is really dangerous is if we jeopardise our vaccination campaign by having these variants, where the vaccines don't work as effectively, spreading more rapidly."

Future vaccination campaigns might need to be considered to tackle future variants, but "the longer that we can push that down the road... the better", Dr Tildesley added.

Prof Andrew Hayward, from Sage, said it was "unlikely" the government would want to encourage travel to European countries currently experiencing high levels of coronavirus infections.

"I think it's unlikely that we would want to encourage travel to those countries whilst they have high levels of infection," he told Times Radio.

"I suppose one of the more worrying things about this resurgence is that in some parts of Europe the South African variant is beginning to creep up to higher levels."

He said this variant was of "particular concern" because vaccine effectiveness against it was "quite low".

There are thousands of different versions, or variants, of Covid circulating but there has been particular focus on those first found in three countries: South Africa, Brazil and the UK.

These variants could be much more contagious or easy to catch.

Current vaccines were designed around earlier versions of coronavirus, but scientists believe they should still work, although perhaps not quite as well.

Meanwhile, Kate Bingham, the former head of the UK's vaccine taskforce, told the Daily Telegraph some European leaders were being "completely irresponsible" over their approach to the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab.

Several countries decided to suspend use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine following reports some people suffered blood clots after receiving the jab.

Data supplied by AstraZeneca showed there had been less than 40 reports of blood clots among the 17 million people across Europe who had been given the vaccine.

UK and EU regulators said there was no evidence the Covid vaccine caused blood clots and Boris Johnson has said the vaccine is safe - receiving it himself on Friday.

Prof Sir John Bell, a member of the government's vaccine taskforce, criticised France for changing its vaccine advice, calling it "crackers".

France is refusing to give the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to under-55s having previously said it was unsuitable for older people - a move Prof Bell said undermined confidence in the vaccination rollout.

"It doesn't make any sense. The whole thing looks completely crackers. They are changing the rules almost every week," he told Today.

"They are really damaging people's confidence in vaccines generally - not just the AstraZeneca vaccine.

"They are sitting on a massive stockpile of vaccines that they haven't deployed yet and at the same time they have got a massive wave of the new variants coming across the country. You couldn't make it up."

More than 26 million people in the UK have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, according to government figures.