Britain is adding India to its travel “red-list” after detecting 103 cases of a coronavirus variant first identified in the country, health minister Matt Hancock said on Monday.
“We’ve made the difficult but vital decision to add India to the Red List. This means anyone who is not a UK or Irish resident or a British citizen cannot enter the UK if they’ve been in India in the previous 10 days,” Hancock told parliament. “UK and Irish residents and British citizens who’ve been in India in the past 10 days before their arrival will need to complete hotel quarantine for 10 days from the time of arrival.”
The rules come into force at 4 a.m. local time (0300 GMT) on Friday, Hancock said. The British authorities back in April had added Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Kenya to its red list to be effective from 4:00 am (local time) Friday, April 9 2021 for implementing travel bans on visitors from the countries.
Under the restrictions imposed by the UK Department for Transport, British, Irish and third-country nationals with residence rights (including long-term visa holders) would be required to self-isolate in a government-approved hotel quarantine facility for 10 days.
