New advice against non-essential travel from regions across northern England, the Midlands, and London has put half-term holiday plans in doubt.
The government now says the public should avoid travelling in and out of areas where the so-called Indian variant is spreading fastest “unless it is essential”.
The new advice covers the areas governed by Bedford Borough Council, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, Bolton Metropolitan Council and Burnley Borough Council. Also included are Kirklees Council, Leicester City Council, the London Borough of Hounslow and North Tyneside Council. Hounslow is next to Heathrow airport.
The Telegraph said thousands of families face yet more travel disappointment, adding: “Those with holiday bookings in the affected areas are advised to contact their tour operator or airline for guidance on how to claim refunds or rebook their trips.”
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The BBC said the guidance was published online without an announcement on Friday (May 14). The advice says people in the affected areas should try to avoid meeting indoors.
The Department of Health said the advice encourages “people to take an extra cautious approach” in hotspots, added the BBC.
Therese Coffey, work and pensions secretary, said people living in these hotspots should consider “whether it really is essential” for them to travel during half term.
She appeared on ITV’s Good Morning Britain and was asked whether a family from Bolton should go on a half-term holiday to a green list country. She said she would not discuss “hypothetical situations”, but stressed: “The guidance is very clear that people need to consider whether it really is essential.
“The green list is there… because we recognise the amount of transmission in that country is very low, so the risks of bringing the variant back into the UK are very low, and that’s why we have the process that we have.
“But I think people just need to consider carefully the risks that they are under themselves.”
Yasmin Qureshi, Labour MP for Bolton South East and shadow international development minister, told the BBC that she had not been informed and was “gobsmacked” by the updated guidance.
“They’re making such an important announcement and they don’t even have the decency to tell us or tell our constituents,” she said, adding that many people would have made plans to travel over the bank holiday weekend.
She said it was “not clear” whether “this is advisory or legally obligatory” and described the move as “incompetence” on the part of the government.
A Downing Street source told the BBC it was advice, not law.
Layla Moran MP, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Coronavirus, said on Twitter: “This is a major change to policy that will have a huge impact on people’s lives. Simply updating the government website without an official announcement is a recipe for confusion and uncertainty.
“Local people and public health leaders in these areas need urgent clarity from the Government. [Health secretary] Matt Hancock must come before Parliament and make a public statement to explain these new rules.
“It seems crucial lessons have still not been learnt about the importance of clear messaging during a pandemic.”
• Elsewhere, Austria will ban direct UK flights from June 1 over fears of the Indian variant.
It will affect services operated by Austrian Airlines, British Airways, Ryanair and easyJet among others.
More: Agent Diary: ‘Customers are now more confused and uncertain than ever’
Just one in 10 UK adults confident of ‘normal’ holiday abroad