The health authorities have moved eight countries off the dark red travel list ahead of the lifting of the majority of COVID-19 restrictions on Monday. 

In one of four legal notices published on Thursday ahead of the changes coming into force on Monday, the health authorities put Montenegro, British Virgin Islands, El Salvador, Mayotte, French Guyana, Martinique, Guadaloupe and French Polynesia on the red list. 

This means that travel to and from the eight countries will be allowed from Monday, as long as travellers present a valid vaccine certificate, a negative swab test result or a recovery certificate. This is in line with the latest travel requirements. 

Travel to the remaining 100+ countries and regions that are still on the dark red list still requires prior written authorisation and comes with more stringent quarantine rules.  

New rules as of Monday

The other legal notices published on Friday outline the lifting of measures as announced by Health Minister Chris Fearne last week. 

The new rules state that masks will now only be mandatory in hospitals, on flights, in care homes and any other medical clinics. Shops will however still be allowed to require customers to wear masks indoors, if they wish to enforce that rule. 

A separate legal notice states that from Monday, only those who test positive for COVID-19 must quarantine. Anyone else, including primary contacts from the same household, who test negative and who don't have any symptoms are free to no isolate.