Britons who are vaccinated or have negative Covid test can visit France from June 9

British holidaymakers will be able to visit France from June 9 if they are vaccinated or have a negative Covid test, a leaked plan has revealed.

The move means France joins Spain, Portugal and Greece in reopening to tourists for the early summer by accepting digital or paper vaccination certificates or a PCR test result.

The leaked plan discloses that France will gradually start lifting its lockdown next Monday, with restaurant terraces reopening in mid-May and a return to near normal by June 30.

If applied, the four-phase roadmap will see France fully reopened just nine days after the UK despite having far higher Covid infection, hospitalisation and death rates.

Some French doctors have described the leaked plan as "mad" given that the country still has almost 6,000 Covid patients in intensive care.

France, like most of mainland Europe, is likely to be on the UK Government's "amber" list of countries, potentially due to be announced at the end of next week.

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This would mean holidaymakers would be required to quarantine at home for 10 days on their return and pay up to £300 for PCR tests on days two and eight, and on day five if they wanted to be released early even if they have been vaccinated.

Government sources are playing down the prospect of any more than 10 countries being on the UK's "green list" of countries deemed safe because of their high vaccination rates, low prevalence of Covid and its variants and comprehensive testing regimes.

On Thursday, Public Health England (PHE) announced that two further variants, which share the same parent lineage as the Indian variant, have been identified.VUI-21APR-02 and VUI-21APR-03 have been designated "variants under investigation", but PHE said there is currently no evidence they cause more severe disease or reduce vaccine efficacy.

However, even with "green list" countries, all holidaymakers – vaccinated or not – will be required to pay for a PCR test on or before the second day of their return.

The Government is coming under pressure to rethink its refusal to provide any advantage to vaccinated travellers – unlike much of the rest of Europe, which is allowing test-free entry if people have been inoculated.

Henry Smith, the Conservative chairman of the all-party Future of Aviation group, said holidaymakers returning from "green" countries should only have to take a free lateral flow test and pay for a PCR test only if positive.

"The amount of testing for 'green' countries is overly prescriptive. There is too much complexity for travelling. Most people won't bother," he said.

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John Holland-Kaye, the Heathrow chief executive, said PCR tests for "green" travel must be ditched, adding: "That's something that needs to change to come into line with countries like Portugal and the USA. It has to be made easier for people to travel if they are vaccinated and going to a low-risk country."

Mr Holland-Kaye also warned of potential chaos – with queues of up to six hours at Heathrow – unless Government ministers "got a grip" on delays at the border.

He said that while most of the airport was ready for a potential relaunch of international travel on May 17, it risked being thrown off by poor staffing on the Border Force desks. "We don't see enough changing at the moment to be confident that that will be fixed within the next few weeks," he said.

Border Force will mount a limited trial of e-gates at the start of May in a bid to allow passengers to have their passenger locator form and passport checked automatically rather than by hand by officers – the main reason for the queues.

There is also concern that the NHS app will not be updated in time for May 17 after it was identified as the platform that will act as a Covid passport for passengers who have been vaccinated. This will mean holidaymakers will have to use paper certificates to show they have been jabbed.

It is also understood the app will not include results of Covid tests, which will have to be presented separately on arrival at holiday destinations.