Hopes are rapidly diminishing that the US and UK will agree to open a pre-season balcony, in a recent sign that escalation of coronavirus cases in Britain disrupting millions of tourist routes.
Officials who took part in the US-UK talks, which began last week, said they thought it was unlikely he would arrive by the end of next month, as some had expected.
Instead, he said the integration of Delta’s UK-based operations, the US political crisis, and the uncertainty of the AstraZeneca vaccine should move the talks into August as well as September.
The predictions for the adoption of the US-UK airstrip are the latest in a long line of challenges as Britain prepares to travel abroad for the summer.
On Monday, Spain, Portugal, Malta and Hong Kong all announced strict rules travelers entering from the UK.
Officials in London had hoped that they would reach an agreement to open US-UK missions by the time of the Independence Day celebrations on July 4. But British government officials now believe this may not be possible.
A UK official who spoke briefly on US access talks said: “This is not going to happen soon. We thought July was the first to save us, but now it looks like September.”
One negotiator said the UK was pushing for more cooperation than the US.
“Biden’s officials are not in a hurry. . . and the chance that everything is happening before August now looks like zilch, ”added the man.
Non-Americans have been banned from traveling from the UK to the US since the Covid-19 epidemic broke out last March, unless they have a green card, a family close to a US citizen, or have been able to apply for special privileges.
The ban was imposed by then-US President Donald Trump, and was replaced by his successor Joe Biden. The UK allows anyone to enter from the US, although they must be secreted at least five days later.
British officials have struggled to force their U.S. counterparts to break the law.
He hopes to be able to move forward after Biden this month agreed to establish a working group of US and UK officials to discuss how to initiate travel.
The UK on Monday recorded 22,868 new cases of coronavirus within 24 hours – the last of which was reported in January. But with more than 60% of people fully vaccinated, deaths remain.
Completing the entry into the US-UK is particularly difficult because how many US government states have issued regulations relating to the coronavirus movement, including the Department of Transportation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the State department and the White House.
The role of the Oxford / AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine in the US also makes things worse. The pharmaceutical company in Anglo-Sweden has not registered a permit from the US Food and Drug Administration, and in doing so, it must apply for a legal permit, rather than a temporary permit – a process that could take several months to complete.
U.S. officials have not said whether they want to treat their vaccinated and non-vaccinated colleagues.
But UK ambassadors fear that if they do, Britons with the AstraZeneca jab could face stricter laws than those who have received US-approved vaccines.
“AstraZeneca represents a serious problem. If the US does not recognize it, it means that millions of Brits will not be eligible to travel if we agree to join,” said a UK ambassador.
The White House said the US-UK travel conferences were “active and continuous”.
A spokesman for the British government said a working group in the US-UK had been set up “to help resume UK-US travel as soon as possible”.
“Negotiations between the operators continue to deepen that the UK and US share in depth the expertise and expertise in the global movement going forward,” the spokesman said. AstraZeneca declined to comment.
Additional reports by Jim Pickard, Donato Paolo Mancini and Philip Georgiadis
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