London, July 10 (RHC)-- Quarantine measures for those travelling to Britain from around 70 countries and overseas territories, including France and Italy, no longer apply from Friday in a boost to the ailing aviation and travel industries hit by COVID-19.

Those arriving from higher risk countries will still have to self-quarantine for 14 days but many popular destinations are now exempt, meaning millions of Britons are able to take summer holidays without having to stay at home when they return.

The boss of Heathrow, Britain's biggest airport, welcomed the move but said more was needed to facilitate travel from other low-risk countries and areas.

"There are some important long-haul markets that aren't included, places like Canada and Singapore, which are low-risk, and we'd like to see those being included in the next review," John Holland-Kaye told Sky News.

"We also need to think about how are we going to connect some of our really important trading partners such as the United States, which are high risk as a nation but some parts of the country are low risk."