UK to Ease Lockdown Next Week, Will Test Vaccine Passports

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s slow but steady march out of a three-month lockdown remains on track even as coronavirus cases surge elsewhere in Europe, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Monday, as he confirmed that businesses from barbers to bookstores will be allowed to reopen next week.

Johnson said it’s too soon to decide, however, whether U.K. residents will be able to have summer trips abroad. He confirmed that the government will test out a contentious “vaccine passport” system — a way for people to offer proof they have protection from COVID-19 — as a tool to help travel and large events return safely.

Four weeks after England took its first step out of lockdown by reopening schools, Johnson said Britain’s vaccination program was proceeding well and infections were falling. He said the next step would come as planned on April 12, with the reopening of hairdressers, beauty salons, gyms, nonessential shops and bar and restaurant patios.

“We set out our road map and we’re sticking to it,” Johnson said during a news conference.

But, he added, “We can’t be complacent. We can see the waves of sickness afflicting other countries, and we’ve seen how this story goes.”

A ban on overnight stays away from home in England will also be lifted April 12, and outdoor venues such as zoos and drive-in cinemas can operate again.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are following similar but slightly different paths out of lockdown.
B
ritain has recorded almost 127,000 coronavirus deaths, the highest toll in Europe. But infections and deaths both have fallen sharply during the current lockdown and since the start of a vaccination campaign that has given a first dose to more than 31 million people, or six in 10 adults.

The government aims to give all adults at least one shot of vaccine by July, and hopes that a combination of vaccination and mass testing will allow indoor socializing and large-scale events to return.

It says all adults and children in England will be encouraged to have routine coronavirus tests twice a week as a way to stamp out new outbreaks. The government said free lateral flow tests will be available free starting Friday by mail, from pharmacies and in workplaces.

Lateral flow tests give results in minutes but are less accurate than the PCR swab tests used to officially confirm cases of COVID-19. But the government insists they are reliable and will help find people who contract the virus but don’t have symptoms.

Britons are currently banned by law from going on holiday abroad under the extraordinary powers Parliament has given the government to fight the pandemic. The government said Monday it won’t lift the travel ban before May 17 — and maybe later.

“The government hopes people will be able to travel to and from the U.K. to take a summer holiday this year, but it is still too soon to know what is possible,” it said in an official update.

Once travel resumes, Britain will rank countries on a traffic-light system as green, yellow or red based on their level of vaccinations, infections and worrying new virus variants. People arriving from “green” countries will have to be tested but won’t face quarantine.

The government also is testing a system of “COVID-status certification” — often dubbed “vaccine passports” — that would allow people seeking to travel or attend events to show they either have received a coronavirus vaccine, tested negative for the virus, or recently had COVID-19 and therefore have some immunity.

A series of events will start this month, including soccer matches, comedy shows and marathon races. The government said the first events will rely only on testing, “but in later pilots vaccination and acquired immunity are expected to be alternative ways to demonstrate status.”

The issue of vaccine passports has been hotly debated around the world, raising questions about how much governments, employers and venues have a right to know about a person’s virus status. The idea is opposed by a wide swath of British lawmakers, from left-of-center opposition politicians to members of Johnson’s Conservative Party, and the policy could face stiff opposition when it is put before Parliament later this month.

Conservative legislator Graham Brady said vaccine passports would be “intrusive, costly and unnecessary.” The leader of the opposition Labour Party, Keir Starmer, called the idea “un-British.”

The government said vaccine passports were all but unavoidable, since many countries were certain to demand proof of COVID-19 status for entry. And it said barring British businesses from asking customers for similar proof would be “an unjustified intrusion on how businesses choose to make their premises safe.”

The government said, however, that vaccine passports would never be needed to access “essential public services, public transport and essential shops.”

Johnson acknowledged that vaccine passports raised “complicated ethical and practical issues” and stressed their introduction wasn’t imminent.
“We’re some way off finalizing any plans for COVID-certification in the U.K.,” he said.

Royal Caribbean Will Provide A Covid Test For Cruisers Returning To The United States

By: Matt Hochberg

If you are headed on a Royal Caribbean cruise this summer from Bermuda, The Bahamas, or somewhere else, you can expect to get a negative Covid test before your cruise ends so you can go home.

One of the many extra steps required to cruise in 2021 is upon returning to the United States on an international flight, you need a negative Covid test result.

Current U.S. requirements stipulate that returning international travelers must get tested no more than 3 days before re-entering the United States.

Disembarkation day is difficult enough with everything going on, so how would cruise passengers find time to get a negative test before heading to the airport for a flight home?

It appears Royal Caribbean will take care of this for guests.
Source: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/

Notre Dame’s Rector: “15 Or 20 years” Needed For Restoration

PARIS (AP) — The rector of Notre Dame said Friday that the burned-out Paris cathedral and its esplanade could remain a building site for another “15 or 20 years.”

Rector Patrick Chauvet spoke to The Associated Press following Good Friday ceremonies, including venerating the “Crown of Thorns” at Notre Dame’s temporary liturgical base, the nearby church of Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois.

He added that: “I can guarantee that there’s work to do!”

In the days following the April 15, 2019, blaze that engulfed Paris’ Gothic gem, French President Emmanuel Macron set a five-year restoration deadline for 2024, when Paris is to host the Summer Olympics. But French officials quickly backpedaled Macron’s statement, conceding that it was unrealistic to complete the enormous project by that time.

The blaze also distributed vast amounts of toxic lead from the cathedral’s burned-out roof onto the site and nearby, complicating the clean-up work that came before restoration efforts could even begin.

Works planned include remodeling the cathedral’s esplanade, which before the blaze was visited every year by 20 million tourists.

Groups Warn Venice Lagoon Still At Risk After Cruise Decree

ROME (AP) — Activists opposed to cruise ships in Venice are seeking a meeting with the Italian government to argue that its latest proposal to re-route big ships away from St. Mark’s Square doesn’t address pressing environmental concerns about the fragile Venetian lagoon.

The Italian Cabinet passed a decree this week calling for a public tender of ideas to create a new docking port “outside the protected waters of the lagoon.”

Culture Minister Dario Franceschini said the decree addresses longstanding UNESCO concerns and establishes that cargo and cruise ships bigger than 40,000 tons must dock outside the lagoon.

While it’s not articulated in the decree, the temporary plan would have big ships use the Marghera Port on the Italian mainland until a definitive solution is found and implemented — a potentially years-long process.

“Whoever has been to Venice in recent years, either an Italian or foreigner, has been upset seeing these ships — hundreds of meters long and high as a condo — pass by such fragile places as the Giudecca Canal or in front of St. Mark’s Square,” Franceschini said.

He called the decree a “very important” way to come up with a definitive new solution.

But the No Big Ships Committee, a coalition of activists, said the Marghera Port is still part of the Venetian lagoon and therefore must be rejected even as a temporary solution. The new route envisaged would take ships past the tail of the Lido and then hug the Italian mainland via the Oil Canal, away from Venice’s historic center but still into the lagoon and up to Marghera.

“It’s certainly a relief to hear the Italian government finally state its intention to keep large ships out of the lagoon as well as block them from coming close to Venice,” said Jane da Mosto of the We Are Here Venice group, which is part of the No Big Ships coalition.

“But the interim ‘temporary’ plan to bring large cruise ships to Marghera will not protect the lagoon,” she said in an email. “This new route will still damage its fragile ecosystem, with inevitable negative knock-on effects.”

The issue has simmered in Venice for years. The fragile Italian canal city depends tourism, even though the coronavirus pandemic has dealt a blow to that industry in the last year. But opponents of cruise ship tourism say the ships are out-of-scale for Venice, cause pollution, threaten the lagoon’s ecosystem and are a danger. To back up their claims, they cite the 2019 crash of a cruise ship on Venice’s main Giudecca Canal that injured five people.
T
he No Big Ships Committee said it was seeking a meeting with the government to argue that the Oil Canal route to Marghera “is not workable.”

“Any temporary solution has to be rejected because the risk is too high that it becomes definitive,” the group tweeted.
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By NICOLE WINFIELD

Colleen Barry contributed from Soave, Italy.

Travelore Breaking News: Fully Vaccinated Against COVID-19? CDC Says It's OK To Resume Travel

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Americans who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can resume travel at low risk to themselves – long-awaited news for travelers itching to vacation or see family again.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, who earlier this week issued an urgent plea to limit travel due to fears of another COVID surge, said Friday that the new guidance is based on studies showing the "real-world'' effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines.

Vaccinated travelers no longer have to follow the CDC's recommendations to get a COVID-19 test before and after travel unless required by the destination. They still need to wear masks and take other precautions. A person is considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving the last recommended vaccine dose.

The CDC's Friday announcement does not change one high-profile COVID travel restriction, however. Vaccinated travelers still must abide by a CDC order, issued in January, requiring a negative COVID test to board international flights to the United States, and should get another test three to five days after returning.

The CDC's travel recommendations, which have evolved during the pandemic under the general banner of avoiding nonessential travel and still apply to those who aren't vaccinated, call for getting tested one to three days before a trip, three to five days after a trip and staying home and self-quarantining for seven days after travel, even with a negative test. If unvaccinated travelers don’t get tested, they should stay home and self-quarantine for 10 days after travel.

Those guidelines were still in place for vaccinated travelers when the CDC issued broad guidance for vaccinated Americans in early March.

They are only guidelines, though, and plenty of travelers have boarded planes or taken road trips without the CDC's blessing. In March, passenger counts at U.S. airports topped 1 million a day every day but five, according to the Transportation Security Administration – something that hasn't happened in over a year.

Source: https://www.usatoday.com/

UK Bans Travel From 4 More Nations Over Virus; 39 In All

LONDON (AP) — The British government is gearing up to ban international arrivals from four more countries — Bangladesh, Kenya, Pakistan and the Philippines — amid concerns over new virus variants but opted against including European nations that are facing a resurgence of the virus.

The Department for Transport said Friday that the number of countries on its “red list” will reach 39 when the latest restrictions take effect in England beginning April 9. The other nations of the U.K. — Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland — have similar lists.

Under the terms of the travel bans, international visitors who have departed from or traveled through red-list countries in the preceding 10 days are refused entry into England. Countries on the list include Brazil and South Africa, where two of the most concerning virus variants have been identified.

British and Irish citizens and people who have residence rights in the U.K. can enter, as commercial flights are not banned. However, they must quarantine in a government-approved hotel for 10 days at their own expense and must take a COVID-19 test on days two and eight of their self-isolation.

No European nations are on the British red list, even though much of Europe is witnessing a resurgence of the virus that has prompted many countries to reimpose lockdown restrictions. Health experts say the surge is being driven by virus variants, including the one first identified in Britain, that are sweeping the continent. The World Health Organization on Thursday bemoaned the slow pace of vaccinations in European nations other than Britain, saying they were losing the race to protect their people.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative government has faced questions in recent days as to why France, which is suffering one of the worst outbreaks in Europe, is not on the list. Yet putting France on the red list could have serious implications for trade flows in and out of the U.K., given its reliance on traffic from cross-Channel ports.

U.K. transport department said the majority of cases of the South African variant detected in England so far were linked to international travel and that very few are thought to have come from Europe.

The measures are aimed at reducing the risk posed by new virus variants into the U.K., which has recorded Europe’s highest COVID-related death toll, with over 126,500 deaths.

The U.K. has seen new coronavirus infections and deaths fall sharply since the winter amid a strict 3-month lockdown and a rapid rollout of coronavirus vaccines. The U.K. has now given a first vaccine shot to over 31 million people — 46% of its population — much more than the European Union average of 5.6% of the population.

Earlier this week, restrictions on gatherings in England were relaxed following the big fall in cases — the U.K. is recording around 4,500 new infections every day compared with around 70,000 a day earlier this year. Groups of up to six people, or two households, are allowed to meet outdoors.

Johnson on Friday urged people to follow the rules and to not mix indoors during this Easter weekend even if people have received a vaccine shot.

“Even though your friends and family members may be vaccinated, the vaccines are not giving 100% protection, and that’s why we just need to be cautious,” he said during a question and answer session on Twitter. “We don’t think that they entirely reduce or remove the risk of transmission.”

New Michelin Stars Awarded In SouthWest Germany

In the Germany edition of the Michelin Guide presented in March 2021, Baden-Württemberg maintains its top position with a total of 86 Michelin stars spread across 73 restaurants.

Nine restaurants receive Michelin Green Stars in the new “sustainability category”

The State Tourist Board of Baden-Württemberg, also known as SouthWest Germany, officially the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, is a beautiful part of Germany that offers the Swabian hills and valleys, sophisticated cities and charming villages, caves of ancient art, the Black Forest, UNESCO World Heritage sites, Lake Constance and, arguably, Germany’s most delicious food and wine.

SouthWest Germany’s new stars represent the hard work and talent of so many chefs across the state and are important generators for tourism and the economy. Importantly, nine restaurants in Baden-Württemberg received the green Michelin star, which was introduced for the first time in 2020, and recognizes restaurants’ focus on sustainability. Environmental standards, green living and sustainable agriculture and food production are a highlight in SouthWest Germany so these green Michelin stars are especially meaningful.

The culinary excellence in SouthWest Germany is, and has been, quietly extraordinary for many years. In many parts of SouthWest Germany, the growing and producing of environmentally friendly ingredients has spawned a whole culinary tourism practice of growing fresh and sustainable ingredients that chefs are keen to implement in their cooking and to dish up for their guests.

The epicenter of SouthWest Germany’s gourmet excellence is the tiny town of Baiersbronn in the Black Forest with a total of eight Michelin stars. Three world-class restaurant hotels share eight Michelin stars between them: Jörg Sackmann with one star at Schlossberg Restaurant; Claus-Peter Lumpp at the three-starred Bareiss Restaurant; and Torsten Michel at the three-starred Schwarzwaldstube Restaurant along with the Florian Stolte at the one star Köhlerstube who are back on their feet at the Traube Tonbach after the hotel suffered a devastating fire in January 2020.

Baiersbronn has an attention to detail and emphasis on good food that does not stop at the Michelin starred restaurants. Baiersbronn’s “Culinary Hiking Heaven” is a program that teaches visitors the important relationships between nature and nourishment. This program involves “wild plant hosts,” that are restaurants and inns using natural ingredients from the local forest to prepare their dishes; and “wild plant guides” who take visitors on hikes and introduce them to all the forest has to offer. The town seamlessly combines delicious, gourmet food and nature with hard work, locally sourced food, organic ingredients and local production. Their emphasis is on sustainability, conservation and maintaining green practices which is also echoed in many restaurants in the Black Forest and SouthWest Germany generally.

Two additional restaurants from SouthWest Germany made it into the two-star league: the Goldberg in Fellbach, just north of Stuttgart and the Ösch Noir in Donaueschingen in the Black Forest not too far from Freiburg, which received its second star only one year after receiving its first star last year. Two restaurants earned back their first Michelin stars: At Staufeneck Castle in Filstal in the Swabian Alb west of Stuttgart, the Fine Dining RS can look forward to the coveted star again. The Black Eagle in Vogtsburg am Kaiserstuhl near the border with France in the western part of the state also received the award back. Both had to give up their stars for the first time in many years a year earlier. In addition to the newly awarded stars, the new edition of the Michelin Guide also reports deleted stars. A total of eight previous star restaurants from the south had to give up their award this year.

Michelin Green Stars are awarded to restaurants that have a focus on sustainability and can qualify only if they have already received a Star, Bib Gourmand or Plate. The green star restaurants in Baden-Wuerttemberg number 12 all together: The hotel restaurant Bergfriedel in Bühlertal just south of Baden-Baden in the Black Forest; Erasmus in Karlsruhe; two restaurants in Hayingen, a charming area in the middle of the Swabian Alb south of Stuttgart, include the modern Restaurant 1950 and the environmentally friendly and regional restaurant Rose; restaurants Spielweg in Münstertal and derWaldfrieden in Todtnau and Sommerau in Bonndorf all in the Black Forest are worthy destinations; Treibgut in Ulm is where Einstein was born and where there is an excellent bread museum; restaurants Gasthaus Widmann's Löwen and Ursprung are both west of Stuttgart and not far from Ulm. Mohren in Deggenhausertal close to Lake Constance and Zur Sonne in Sankt Peter close to Freiburg are additional special places worthy of reservations.

Good food is a vital part of the vacation experience and SouthWest Germany delivers – particularly when it comes to local dishes made with local produce, accompanied by local beers and wines. SouthWest Germany is also criss-crossed with well-signposted, well-maintained hiking and biking trails through glorious countryside. But it’s not only nature lovers, who enjoy the Great Outdoors. Foodies also have a terrific choice of themed trails that bring out their inner gourmet. So whether you decide to hike or bike, drive or take the train, there is really good food waiting for you almost everywhere in SouthWest Germany. #dreamnowvisitlater

www.tourism-bw.com