Now Playing

The countries that could move to the green list this week - including Poland and Hungary

23 August 2021, 11:19 | Updated: 23 August 2021, 16:55

The next travel update is expected this week. Picture: Alamy

By Polly Foreman

The next travel update is due this week, and a number of countries have been identified as possible green list contenders.

Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic are among the countries that could be added to the green list this week, according to reports.

The government are expected to give an update on the traffic light lists later this week, where they may make changes to the red, amber and green lists.

Countries on the green list are those that Brits can visit without having to quarantine on their return, meaning they can be popular holiday destinations.

The Telegraph has reported that Poland, Bhutan, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Saudi Arabia could be possible green list contenders.

The i Paper also reported that five countries were previously identified by travel consultancy the PC Agency as those that could have gone green at the last update. The analysis was based on them having significantly lower case numbers than the UK, as well as a vaccination rate above 50 per cent.

These were as follows:

Poland
Canada
Bosnia and Herzogovina
Czech Republic
Lithuania

We don't yet know for sure which countries - if any - will be added to the list this week, and we will have to wait for the update for confirmation.

Paul Charles, head of travel consultancy the PC Agency, said: "There are still many countries which should be on the green list; there is no guarantee that Government won’t switch a country at short notice; and no cap on test costs. Travel remains in a Government armlock."

Poland has been identified as a possible contender for the green list. Picture: Alamy

Speaking in a radio interview, Mr Charles added: "When you take the criteria of the seven countries added to the [green] list, then actually they equally apply to the countries that haven’t been added – like Poland, for example, or the Czech Republic or even Canada.

"So there are many countries in world which should be on the green list, but aren’t."

What countries are currently on the green list?

There are 36 countries on the current green list, which are as follows:

1. Madeira
2. Malta
3. Bulgaria
4. Anguilla
5. Antigua and Barbuda
6. Barbados
7. Bermuda
8. Taiwan
9. Cayman Islands
10. Dominica
11. Grenada
12. Turks and Caicos
13. British Antartic Territory
14. British Indian Ocean Territory
15. Montserrat
16. Pitcairn Islands
17. Israel and Jerusalem
18. Singapore
19. Australia
20. New Zealand
21. Brunei
22. Iceland
23. Gibraltar
24. Falkland Islands
25. Faroe Islands
26. South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
27. St Helena, Tristan de Cunha, Ascension Island
28. Hong Kong
29. Croatia
30. Austria
31. Germany
32. Slovenia
33. Slovakia
34. Latvia
35. Romania
36. Norway