© Provided by The iAn announcement on holidays could come on 5 April (Photo: Getty)
Boris Johnson has earmarked 5 April to reveal more information about when foreign travel could be allowed, as England gradually exits lockdown.
Holidays will not be allowed until at least 17 May under the lockdown roadmap, but rising case numbers in Europe could see this pushed back.
The Government's global travel taskforce had been expected to report on 12 April - the same day hospitality and retail are set to reopen.
But the Prime Minister now appears to have brought this forward by a week.
Holiday announcement by 5 April
Speaking at Tuesday's Downing Street press conference, Mr Johnson said: "A lot of people do want to know about what's going to happen on the holiday front and I know there's a great deal of curiosity and interest
"All I can say is it's just too early to say and my advice is to everybody to wait for the global travel task force to report.
"We've heard already that there are other European countries where the disease is now rising so things certainly look difficult for the time being, but we will be able to say more we hope in a few days' time, I certainly hope to say more by 5 April."
© Provided by The iBoris Johnson said he hopes to reveal more information by 5 April (Photo: PA)
The taskforce - led by the Department for Transport - is examining the state of Covid-19 both in the UK and abroad.
It will then make recommendations about when it could be safe to resume international travel, and the rules that could be in place.
Vaccine passports are being considered, which would allow those who have received the jab to travel abroad.
Will summer holidays be allowed?
From next week, anyone attempting to leave the country without an essential reason can be fined £5,000.
Ministers have been saying for months that it is too early to say when holidays will be allowed again.
Dr Mike Tildesley, a member of the Government's Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling, which works with Sage, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme last weekend: "I think that international travel this summer is, for the average holidaymaker, sadly I think, extremely unlikely.
"I think we are running a real risk if we do start to have lots of people going overseas in July, for instance, and August because of the potential for bringing more of these new variants back into the country.
"What is really dangerous is if we jeopardise our vaccination campaign by having these variants, where the vaccines don't work as effectively, spreading more rapidly."
Spiking cases in Europe could force the UK to block summer holidays abroad completely.
There were more than 45,000 new cases in France on 25 March, and over 21,000 in Germany. Cases are rising across the continent, including in Italy, Spain and Turkey. This compares to just over 6,000 in the UK, where the trend is going in the other direction.
Europe's vaccination schedule is also well behind the UK's. The UK has administered first doses to around half of the adult population, whereas the EU has managed around 14 per cent.
However, the Government will face pressure from the travel industry, which has suffered greatly during the pandemic, to allow holidays in time for summer.
Spain and Greece have already said they plan to welcome UK tourists back this summer, so long as they have proof of vaccination, coronavirus antibodies or a negative PCR test.
Turkey has said it will allow UK travellers without any of these requirements.