In total, Eurotunnel’s passenger shuttles carried 233,000 passenger vehicles in July, down from 294,000 last year – a decline of 21%.

This compares to a 69% year-on-year slump in June, 81% in May and 91% in April at the height of the UK and France’s Covid epidemics.

It is the highest rate of passenger carryings this year, and the nearest passenger numbers have come to recovering to last year’s levels since a 4% year-on-year increase back in February.

The figures illustrate the effect of the UK lifting its 14-day self-isolation requirement for arrivals from France on 10 July, while also reflecting the annual summer getaway.

"In July 2020, our passenger shuttles transported 233,172 vehicles," said Eurotunnel. "The recovery is led by the very high reservation levels seen since the announcement on 26 June of the lifting of the British quarantine, effective 10 July 10.

"A peak in traffic was observed on Friday 31 July with 12,239 passenger vehicles loaded on board the shuttle."
So far this year, nearly 788,000 passenger vehicles have crossed the Channel via Eurotunnel, down 46% from 1.46 million during the same seven-month period last year.

This is an improvement of 6% on Eurotunnel’s rolling traffic figures for the six months to the end of June, which were down 52% on the same period last year.

It is the first time this rolling traffic measure has increased since the start of the coronavirus crisis

Last month, Eurotunnel said the 26 June announcement that the UK would be lifting its return quarantine requirement for France led to an "all-time record for bookings" over the weekend of 26-27 June.