Oddly, the UK Government made a series of low key changes to the colour classifications of various countries overnight. No big press conference and hence no questions.

Key changes:

• Green List (from Amber) meaning no quarantine on return to the UK requiring pre-arrival negative test and a test at Day 2
  • Austria
  • Germany
  • Latvia
  • Norway
  • Romania
  • Slovakia
  • Slovenia
• Amber List (from Red) meaning no hotel quarantine, but still 10 days of isolation and two tests
  • Bahrain
  • India
  • Qatar
  • United Arab Emirates
• Red List (from Amber) which marks the end of the Mexico shuffle to get in to the USA unless you can afford quarantine or come back from the USA
  • Georgia
  • Mayotte
  • Mexico
  • Reunion Island
• Amber (from Amber+) from 8 August
  • France

Of course all of these countries have their own rules for arrivals.

The new cost for red country arrival quarantine will be £2,285 (from 12 August), a move designed to reduce further those people visiting red countries. For two people sharing, the additional cost of the extra person goes from £650 to an eye-watering £1,430. For kids aged 5 and 12, the cost is £325 per child.

The UK Government is concerned that the current regime has not stopped enough people travelling to red list countries. I suspect that there is some pressure from the hotels to get more cash as it is peak season in London and the city is full of UK visitors looking for accommodation.

Full arrival rules are linked here.