Britain’s Covid pass now valid for travel across EU - what it means for you

The European Union has announced that from today (29 October) it will formally recognise NHS Covid certificates for travel.

The bloc will treat Britain’s digital pass in the same way as its own Covid certificate.

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The UK has been calling for the EU to accept the NHS pass since the summer and yesterday the bloc said certificates issued in Britain and America would now be accepted.

What does that mean for travelling to the EU?

Fully-vaccinated British tourists visiting EU countries that have adopted vaccine passports will be able to use the NHS pass instead of taking regular coronavirus tests.

For example, Britons going to France will no longer have to convert their certificate into a pass sanitaire on the TousAntiCovid app, The Times reports.

In the Netherlands, UK citizens will no longer have to take a test every 24 hours to enter venues.

Which countries will now recognise the NHS pass?

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The NHS pass will now be accepted across the European Union and a further 16 countries outside of the bloc.

This includes Norway, Switzerland and Iceland.

What has happened to the travel red list?

The UK government removed all countries from its Covid-19 travel red list yesterday (28 October), meaning arrivals to England and Wales will no longer have to have quarantine hotel stays.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the remaining seven countries on the list - Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Haiti, Panama, Peru and Venezuela - would be removed from 4am on Monday 1 November.

Travellers from these countries who are coming to England will no longer be required to spend 11 nights in a quarantine hotel, bringing it in line with the rest of Europe.

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However, Mr Shapps has stopped short of scrapping the red list entirely, insisting it needed to be kept in place “as a precautionary measure to protect public health”

A version of this article originally appeared on NationalWorld.com