UK drops 11 nations from COVID red list, visitors allowed to leave hotel quarantine early

Despite the growing number of Omicron cases, the United Kingdom has decided to remove all 11 countries from its "red list", saying that the system has become "less effective in slowing the incursion" of newer variants. Speaking at the House of Commons on Tuesday, UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid announced that the travellers from all the countries will no longer have to undergo government-approved mandatory quarantine in hotels for two weeks, which currently costs £2,285. The ban on international flights to and from the 11 countries will be lifted from Wednesday (Dec. 15) at 4 am.

"Whilst we’ll maintain our temporary testing measures for international travel, we will be removing all eleven countries from the travel Red List effective from 4 am tomorrow morning," UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid said on Tuesday.

As per the press release by the UK government, inbound and outbound travel from countries namely- Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe- will be normalised. The announcement comes following a review of the latest risk assessment from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). Additionally, on Monday, the UK also recorded it's first death due to the COVID-19 Omicron variant prompting PM Boris Johnson to set new targets for all adults in England to take booster shots.

"As Omicron cases rise in the UK and countries around the world, the travel red list is less effective in slowing the incursion of the variant from abroad and these temporary measures are no longer proportionate. The red list has served its purpose in delaying the spread of Omicron into the UK to buy time for the government to learn more about this variant and prepare for its potential impact," the press statement by the UK said on Tuesday.

UK COVID rules

As per the revised travel rules, all vaccinated passengers arriving in the UK must continue to take a pre-departure test (PCR or lateral flow) 2 days before they depart for the UK and must take a PCR test on or before day 2 and self-isolate until they receive a negative result, the press statement mentioned. "Unvaccinated passengers must also take a pre-departure test, PCR test on days 2 and 8, and self-isolate for 10 days. Test to release remains an option to shorten their self-isolation period," the statement added. Furthermore, the government also permitted an early release of those people who went to 'managed quarantine' before these changes to the red list, Cabinet minister Stephen Barclay, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, told the Commons, Sky News reported.

Emphasising that the testing measures are vital to help and prevent any additional cases of Omicron from entering the UK, the Health Secretary added that it will help to mitigate risks like passing the virus from one infected person to another, also allowing governments to monitor the risk posed by overseas travel. However, the measures will again be reviewed by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps in the first week of January. Meanwhile, the UK health department has moved focus to meet booster target for all adults by the end of the year.

"We remain focused on meeting our booster target for all adults by the end of the year, and while we will keep our travel testing measures in place, for now, we will review this position in the first week of January," Shapps said in a statement.

As of Monday, the UK recorded 54,661 new COVID-19 cases and 38 fatalities in the past 24 hours. As per UKHSA, there are currently 4,713 confirmed cases of Omicron variant, which has risen to more than 44% of the cases in London. In England, at least 10 people were admitted to the hospital with confirmed Omicron cases.

(Image: AP/Unsplash (representative)