Hopes for a US UK travel corridor are dwindling as concerns are rising that UK citizens with an AstraZeneca vaccine may be barred from traveling to America. A British diplomat stressed the importance of AstraZeneca being approved in the US.

“AstraZeneca is proving a real problem. If the US doesn’t recognise it, it means millions of Brits won’t be eligible to travel if we agree to a new corridor,” he told the Financial Times.

The AstraZeneca vaccine has not yet been approved in the states and complicates the situation for Brits trying to travel even if they are fully vaccinated.

This is following the rapid spread of the Delta variant which has caused many European countries to crack down on Covid-19 travel restrictions.

The Financial Times reported that it is unlikely that a conclusion will be reached about the travel corridor between the US and UK and talks are expected to extend until August and possibly even September.

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Visitors entering Portugal will have to quarantine for 14 days if they are not fully vaccinated.

Spain is another country that requires travellers to be fully vaccinated on arrival.

Hong Kong will stop all passenger flights to the UK from the 1st of July and has added the UK to the ‘extremely high-risk’ Covid-19 list.

The Hong Kong government explained in a statement that the ban was introduced because of “the recent rebound of the epidemic situation in the UK and the widespread Delta variant virus strain there, coupled with a number of cases with L452R mutant virus strains detected by tests from people arriving from the UK”.

Just under 45 million people in the UK have had their first vaccine, with the government expanding the vaccination to the under-25 group.