The UK has announced changes to the list of countries classified as 'green' for international travel - destinations British travelers can visit without quarantining when they return.

Tourist hotspots like Malta, Spain's Balearic Islands, the Portuguese island of Madeira and Caribbean islands, including Barbados, have all been added to the list. 

They join the existing 'green list' countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Iceland.

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Despite hinting that travel restrictions may be lifted for those who are fully vaccinated with two jabs, UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson emphasized that travel will be fraught.

"This is not going to be a summer like every other summer, it is going to be a more difficult summer to take a holiday."

In addition to updating the 'green list' countries, the UK government also indicated that it hoped to allow people who have had two vaccination doses to avoid quarantine when traveling to the UK from 'amber list' countries - which currently includes most of Europe.

That is a change British travel industry leaders have been pushing for.

Any relaxation on the British side may not be matched by their European counterparts. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has suggested all EU countries should make British travelers quarantine on arrival, amid concerns of the surging cases of the Delta variant in the UK. 

Public Health Expert, Professor Linda Bauld from the University of Edinburgh says that easier travel depends on both better certification for vaccine status and a more robust system for testing.

The UK delayed fully re-opening the economy and lifting all COVID-19 restrictions in June, pushing it back a month to July 19. Johnson has said that he is optimistic the country will be able to fully reopen by then but many have heard that before.

Case numbers are continuing to rise rapidly in the UK - rising by 50 percent in a week to more than 16,700 cases on Thursday.

The Delta variant, first identified in India, is at least 60 percent more transmissible than the previous dominant variant in the UK and has quickly spread across the country. It is now responsible for more than 90 percent of new infections in the UK.

More than 31 million people in the UK have now received both doses of the vaccine, which is more than 60 percent of the adult population. More than 42 million people have had at least one dose - which is 83 percent of the adult population.