It had been a long time in coming, but in the early hours of Friday the UK government issued a statement exempting travellers from France from the 14-day quarantine requirement on arrival in England, from July 10. Arrivals in Scotland are not included.

The other countries included in the exemption are Spain, Germany and Italy, all of which have coronavirus death rates substantially below the UK’s.

Later on Friday the UK government issued a list of 65 countries that will no longer be included on the Foreign Office advisory list for non-essential travel and for which there will be no need for quarantine on arrival in the UK, also from July 10.

In all cases, passengers arriving in the UK by whatever means will have to provide an address of where they will be staying, but without the need to self-isolate.

EasyJet is planning to reintroduce flights, four times a week, from Nice to Edinburgh starting on July 17. The Scottish government has not yet indicated when it will remove the quarantine rule.

PHOTO: Passengers arriving at Heathrow Reuters