Transport secretary Grant Shapps told the House of Commons that he had “concerns about when a country jumps from one category to another”, which was why the green watchlist category was being introduced for the proposed restart of international travel on 17 May.
“We are taking a couple of different steps to try to help with that,” he added. “One is to have a green watchlist where we are able to flag up – perhaps a couple of weeks in advance – to say that we are looking at a variation of interest, which could turn into a variation of concern, in order to help provide a bit more forward guidance this year.
