UK Covid travel red list to be cut from 54 to 9 countries

The UK Covid travel red list is to be cut from 54 to 9 countries before the half-term holidays.

The UK’s travel red list is to be significantly lowered to as few as nine countries within days, according to reports. Currently, there are  54 nations on the list, which enforces strict quarantine rules and heavily burdens travellers with quarantine costs from regions deemed the highest Covid risk.

From Tuesday, October 5, the UK’s current green, amber and red categories will be streamlined to just two lists: red and Rest of World (ROW), in a much-welcomed move applauded by the travel sector.

Several popular tourist countries are expected to be removed shortly from the list including, South Africa, Brazil, Mexico, Cape Verde, Indonesia and possibly even Thailand.

The lift of the restrictions will allow fully jabbed Brits to travel without needing to self-isolate on their return, opening up air travel to levels not seen for almost 18 months.

The Government is starting to prepare the country to go back to normality with the Prime Minister stating recently that the vaccine rollout “has saved thousands of lives, prevented countless hospitalisations and has allowed the economy and society to begin returning to normality”.

He added: “We didn’t go through Covid to go back to how things were before – to the status quo ante. Build Back Better means we want things to change and improve as we recover.”

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According to a report from CNN, the news that fully vaccinated travellers from India and many African countries will still face mandatory quarantine in the UK, despite a relaxation of the country’s inbound travel rules, has caused an outcry and accusations of discrimination.

The report highlights that the backlash against the UK’s revised travel policy had initially stemmed from the reported exclusion of the Covishield shot from the list of approved coronavirus vaccines- Covishield is manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII), the world’s largest vaccine maker.

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