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Following on from our previous article detailing the current UK Covid-19 travel restrictions, in recent news new travel restrictions have been imposed. These restrictions will affect travellers who are arriving in England from the UK government’s banned travel list – ‘red list’, which is subject to change.  

From 0400 hrs on Friday 23 April, a travel ban for visitors arriving from India will be implemented. India has been added to England’s red list to protect the country against a new variant of coronavirus (COVID-19) and against other existing variants. 

This is due to the rapid rise in cases detected throughout April in India – which is still rising. Local rates have almost doubled in size in the country, increasing to 111 cases detected per 100,000 per week – higher than any other point in the outbreak.  

The ‘India Variant’ of Covid-19 is known as a double mutant as it has two new significant mutations in the spike protein of the virus that help it infect cells and evade the immune system. According to figures from the Covid-19 Genomics UK Consortium (COG-UK), which tracks different Covid variants, 182 cases of the India variant have so far been found in the UK (up until 16 April). 

Those who are British or Irish citizens or those with residence rights in the UK (including long-term visa holders), will be allowed to enter England. However, they must stay in a government-approved quarantine facility for 10 days.  

During their managed quarantine stay, passengers will be required to take a coronavirus test on or before day two and on or after day eight, and they will not be allowed to shorten their quarantine period on receipt of a negative test result or through the ‘Test to Release’ scheme. 

The addition of India results in a total of 40 countries now on the UK’s travel “red list”. These include large parts of southern Africa and the entirety of South America. 

Earlier this month, Bangladesh, Pakistan and the Philippines were also added.
 

With the Horus-I app, you can have peace of mind as you go about your daily activities, as well as providing added reassurance. Our custom-built app aims to help businesses and institutions to resolve the travel challenges surrounding the safety of their employees and/or students, helping to mitigate risk, provide real-time intelligence information and assist in an emergency.  

You can also find live Covid-19 information via the Covid-19 Travel Information page that is powered by Sitata and displays current international travel controls during the COVID-19 pandemic in addition to the number of daily new confirmed Covid-19 cases worldwide.  

If you think your institution would benefit from receiving the Horus alerts and the other bespoke benefits offered by the Horus-I app, get in touch with our team at info@horus-global.co.uk.