Travel: Coronavirus

(asked on 28th June 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish the (a) Joint Biosecurity Centre’s most recent risk assessment data for the entire covid-19 traffic light list and (b) current risk assessment status of all countries and destinations on the green, amber and red lists.


Answered by
Robert Courts Portrait
Robert Courts
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
This question was answered on 1st July 2021

The traffic light system categorises countries based on risk to protect public health and the vaccine rollout from variants of COVID-19. The Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC) produces risk assessments of countries and territories. Decisions on Red, Amber or Green List assignment and associated border measures are taken by Ministers, who take into account the JBC risk assessments, alongside wider public health factors. Key factors in the JBC risk assessment of each country include:

  • genomic surveillance capability
  • COVID-19 transmission risk
  • Variant of Concern transmission risk

A summary of the JBC methodology is published on gov.uk, alongside key data that supports Ministers' decisions.

Current risk assessment status of all countries are reflected in the traffic light system. Countries are categorized according to their the level of risk with Green indicating low-risk, Amber indicating medium-risk and Red indicating high-risk.

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