Johnson says UK hasn’t given up on overseas trips by May

UK PM Boris Johnson sought to reassure the public that summer holidays are still a possibility, a day after warning that the government may not meet a May 17 goal to reopen its borders. While many popular holiday destinations are struggling with surges in Covid-19 cases, this doesn’t mean the government has given up on next month’s target, Johnson said Tuesday. He had cautioned earlier that the government will need to track health data and make an assessment on non-essential travel closer to the date. “We will be saying as much as we can as soon as we can about international travel,” Johnson said. “I know how impatient people are to book their holidays if they possibly can, but we just have to be prudent at this stage.” Airline and airport executives had slammed Johnson for telling Britons not to plan international trips, accusing him of a lack of clarity and of ushering in more financial harm to the industry. Executives also complained that a requirement for arriving passengers to take two coronavirus tests, even from green-lit countries, would drive up the cost of a vacation. EasyJet CEO Johan Lundgren called for cheaper lateral flow tests, which are less accurate but give quicker results, to be used instead of the gold-standard PCR test to avoid pricing families out of holidays.<br/>