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Italy has today tightened its Covid-19 restrictions, affecting ski holidays for British families this winter.
The ‘super green pass’ requirement has been extended to a range of additional venues and locations, including hotels. The tightened pass is also a requirement to access ski lifts and ski resorts.
You can only obtain the super green pass with evidence of full vaccination or recent recovery, meaning a negative test result is no longer sufficient for unvaccinated people to ski in Italy. Austria has similarly tight vaccination requirements to access the slopes, and there are reports France could soon do the same.
British teenagers aged 12 and over can now receive a second dose of the vaccine, although uptake has been slow. Approximately one in two 12- to 15-year-olds have not yet received a first dose, and only 50 per cent of 16- to 17 year-olds have received a second jab.
Italy is seeing a seven-day Covid-19 case rate of 1,833 cases per 100,000, slightly higher than the UK’s 1,814 cases per 100,000. That number is 2,853 in France and 1,740 in Switzerland. In Austria, there are 598 cases per 100,000.
The super green pass is a requirement to board public transport, to enter hotels and to visit bars or restaurants (including outdoor areas), along with museums, cultural spaces and festivals.
Scroll down for more updates.
‘EasyJet refused to help my elderly friend find his Covid travel documents, so he missed his flight’
One reader writes:
Dear Sally,
An elderly friend called me in distress to say he was stuck at Alicante airport in Spain after being turned away from an easyJet flight to Manchester. He was not allowed to board as he was struggling to bring up the email on his mobile phone showing the QR code for his passenger locator form, which is required for travelling back to the UK.
Airline staff would not help him and because he could not show the form they stopped him from boarding. Can you help him?
CJ, Lancashire
‘One of the worst fires in New York’s history’ kills 19
Nineteen people including nine children have been killed in what New York City’s mayor Eric Adams described as one of the worst fires in the city’s history.
Others are reported to be in a critical condition following the fire in a 19-storey block of flats in the Bronx which is understood to have been started by a malfunctioning portable electric heater.
In all 63 people were injured, mainly from smoke inhalation even though the fire itself appeared to have been largely contained in the apartment where it broke out.
At least 200 firefighters rushed to the scene which took place a week after 12 people, including eight children, died in a house fire in Philadelphia.
Cancun tightens restrictions
Cancun faces a tightening of restrictions amid a surge in Covid-19 cases.
With some hospitals reaching 100% occupancy, Cancun will move from ‘green’ to ‘yellow’ from today until January 16 at the earliest.
Quintana Roo, the state which contains Cancun, Tulum, and Playa del Carmen, has been designated as ‘green’ for some months now, meaning most businesses have been able to operate at full capacity.
Credit:
Getty
However, the status change will mean hotels, restaurants and other tourist services will be reduced to a 60% capacity. Bars and nightclubs will be unable to open, and vaccination certificates will become mandatory in venues containing more than 150 people.
Tourists are strongly recommended to contact their holiday provider if visiting Cancun in the coming weeks.
The top travel stories from the weekend
In case you forgot to check in with us over the weekend, here’s a recap of some of the Telegraph’s top travel features from the last two days.
- Martin Clunes’ ultimate guide to the Pacific islands
- This could be the most exciting day for British travellers ever
- The 10 travel habits you should resolve to break this year
- What it’s really like to drive the Outback
- Rob Brydon: ‘My childhood holidays involved a camper van in Wales’
- Why Costa Rica is the adventure tourism capital of the world
- ’Our Mallorcan love story began long before we actually met’
- The 10 travel habits you should resolve to break this year
Is the end in sight for our Covid-19 travel woes?
The end of the pandemic is “in sight”, the WHO special envoy on Covid-19 has said, as he warned of “bumps ahead”.
Speaking on Sky News, Dr David Nabarro said: “We are moving through the marathon, but there’s no actual way to say that we’re at the end.
“We can see the end in sight, but we’re not there. There’s going to be some bumps before we get there.”
All the venues affected by Italy’s ‘super green pass’
You will have to be fully vaccinated, or have recently recovered from Covid-19, in order to access:
- Restaurants and bars (including indoor and outdoor)
- Public transport, including local buses
- School buses for children aged 12 and over
- Hotels
- Ski lifts
- Indoor and outdoor pools
- Wellness centres, gyms and sports facilities
- Spas and thermal baths
- Museums, exhibitions and cultural spaces
- Religious celebration events
- Fairs, festivals, conventions, conferences
- Theme parks
- Cultural, social and recreational centres
- Bingo halls, betting rooms, casinos, games rooms