COVID-19: UK shuts down all travel corridors from January 18 to curb virus spread

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that Britain will shut down all travel corridors from 4:00 GMT January 18 to protect the nation against the “risk of as yet unidentified new strains”. Any individual travelling into the UK from other nations will have to carry the proof of a negative COVID-19 test before setting off. The blanket ban on travel came after the UK banned travellers from South America and Portugal that came into force on January 15 amid fears of new variant discovered in Brazil. Johnson, in his address from the Downing Street, informed that the new COVID-19 restrictions will stay in place until February 15. 

British Pm’s announcement on January 16 came after UK recorded 1,280 more deaths less than 30 days of being COVID-19 positive taking the total casualties to  87,291. Further, the UK government figures showed that at least 55,761 new cases had been reported. Meanwhile, the world surpassed another grim milestone in COVID-19 pandemic with at least two million people dying of the highly-infectious disease across the globe, as per the Johns Hopkins University tally. Boris Johnson said that the new restrictions were “vital” and to take extra measures now  "when day by day we are making such strides in protecting the population"

"It's precisely because we have the hope of that vaccine and the risk of new strains coming from overseas that we must take additional steps now to stop those strains from entering the country,” he added.

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After the travel ban comes into effect on January 18, arrivals to the UK will have to be quarantined for nearly 10 days unless they test negative after five days. While the new rules will be applied across the UK after talking with the devolved administrations, Johnson also said that the government would be ramping up on the law enforcement at the border as well as in the country. 

3.2 million UK citizens vaccinated

After the UK became the first country in the world to approve the emergency use of COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer-BioNTech, an update from Johnson’s office stated that as of January 15, nearly 3.2 million people across the nation have been vaccinated against the novel coronavirus. At least 2.8 million in England, 115,000 in Northern Ireland, 225,000 in Scotland and 126,000 in Wales have been received the first doses of the vaccine to curb the spread of the disease as the UK is also battling with a drastic surge in cases after identifying a new variant in the country.

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