India has been the biggest global hotspot of Covid-19 pandemic for about two weeks. Some countries have responded with restrictions on travel from and to India. New Zealand, Hong Kong and Pakistan have banned travel from India. The UK has put India on a red list after its Prime Minister Boris Johnson called off his April visit in the wake of rising Covid-19 cases in both the countries.
“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,” UK Secretary of State for Health Matt Hancock told Parliament, according to a Reuters report. “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.”
PTI reported that Hancock said samples of the so-called “Indian variant” of the virus have been analysed to see if the new variant has any “concerning characteristics”, such as greater transmissibility or resistance to treatments and vaccines.
“After studying the data, and on a precautionary basis, we’ve made the difficult but vital decision to add India to the red list,” the minister told MPs.
The move came hours after Downing Street had announced the cancellation of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s visit to India next week due to a spike in Covid-19 infections in the country.
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