UK 'air bridge' travel agreements to be announced in next five days
Air bridge agreements would allow UK travelers to visit certain European countries without having to quarantine on return
Details regarding the UK's international travel agreements -- or so-called "air bridges" -- will be announced by next Monday, according to Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.
Speaking to the UK Parliament Transport Committee Wednesday, Shapps confirmed that "discussions were ongoing" and details on the measures would be announced to Parliament by June 29, reports the CNN.
Air bridge agreements would allow UK travelers to visit certain European countries without having to quarantine on return.
Shapps said Britain wanted to put in place a system where the country avoided reinfection due to citizens going abroad or visitors from other countries entering the UK.
He added that the current quarantine measures were helping in "serving that purpose." Those measures require all international arrivals not covered by a shortlist of exemptions to self-isolate for two weeks.
When deciding which nations to form agreements with Shapps said he would consider "not only what the level of disease is" but also the trajectory of the virus in a country.
Shapps said he would also consider whether a country has the same testing capability as the UK, saying that the NHS Test and Trace system had "the capacity to test actually far more than is immediately required".
He added that he would take into account the social distancing measures in place in other countries, noting that there were "evidently a lot of complexities" to consider.
Shapps refused to give any further detail on air bridges until the official announcement saying he didn't want to give people "false hope."