UK to remove all countries from COVID travel redlist on Wednesday

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LONDON, December 14 (Reuters) – The UK government will remove the 11 countries from its COVID-19 travel red list from Wednesday as there is now community transmission of Omicron in Britain, the secretary for Health Sajid Javid.

The new Omicron variant was first detected in southern Africa and Hong Kong. The UK government added 11 African countries to its red list from the end of November, meaning only UK citizens or residents from those countries were allowed in and then had to be quarantined in a hotel.

“Now that there is community transmission of Omicron in the UK, and Omicron has spread so widely around the world, the travel redlist is now less effective in slowing down Omicron’s foray from the foreigner, ”Javid said.

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“We will remove the 11 countries from the travel red list as of 4 a.m. tomorrow morning.”

The 11 countries that will be deleted are Angola, Botswana, eSwatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

CANCELLATIONS

Travel agencies had urged the government to reduce restrictions as soon as possible. Heathrow Airport in London [RIC:RIC:FERHT.UL] said last week that there were high levels of cancellations from business travelers due to concerns about the restrictions. Read more

Britain will still require all inbound travelers to pass a PCR test or rapid lateral flow test no more than 48 hours before departure, a measure according to Transport Secretary Grant Shapps that would be reviewed in the first week of January .

Mark Tanzer, chief executive of the ABTA travel association, welcomed the removal from the red list, but said testing should have been removed as well.

“With the test measures now spanning the Christmas and New Years period, and the industry rapidly approaching the peak booking season for summer 2022, travel agencies face a very serious situation,” he said in a statement.

“Consumer confidence in travel has suffered a significant decline, which will outlast these restrictions.”

Arrivals from Red List countries had to pay thousands of pounds to self-quarantine in government-approved hotels. Many have complained on social media about the costs and conditions of their stay.

The lack of available rooms has also left some people trapped abroad while waiting for places to become available in hotels.

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Reporting by Kylie MacLellan and Elizabeth Piper; edited by Guy Faulconbridge, Paul Sandle and Gareth Jones

Our Standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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