Coronavirus Travel News: The UK's Red-List Countries
From 15th February 2021, travellers who have been through a 'Red List' country in the last 10 days before entering the UK will be refused entry.
British and Irish nationals, as well as those with UK residence rights, will be allowed entry, but must quarantine in a government-approved hotel for 10 days on arrival. You will also be required to undertake several COVID-19 tests. Please see full details below to ascertain whether these latest government updates will affect your travel.
Mandatory testing
From Monday 15th February, all international arrivals into the UK will, by law, be required to take two further COVID-19 PCR tests on days two and eight of their mandatory 10-day quarantine period. The cost of this test package is £210pp. This is in addition to the pre-departure tests that all passengers are required to take before entering or returning to the UK.
More information can be found here, or by talking to your dedicated Travel Consultant.
'Red List' countries & quarantine requirements
The full ‘Red List’ countries can be found here and are also listed below. As a reminder, entry to the UK is suspended for anyone who has travelled from, or via, a red-list country in the 10 days before their arrival – unless the passenger is:
- a British national
- an Irish national
- anyone with UK residence rights
From 15th February onwards, travellers still eligible to enter the UK under the above conditions will be subject to 10 days’ quarantine in a managed hotel facility. This includes undertaking the pre-departure test and the two additional COVID-19 PCR tests mentioned above.
The cost of this hotel quarantine is £1,750 per single adult in one room, £650 per additional adult aged over 12 years old, and £325 for children aged between five and 12 years old. This includes transport from your port of arrival, food, accommodation, security, essential services and testing.
The UK government has confirmed that passengers will not be able to end their managed quarantine early through the Test to Release scheme.
Please take the time to read the full guidance here, and speak to your Travel Consultant if you have any concerns. You can also find the quarantine hotel booking portal here.
Countries currently on the 'Red List'
- Angola
- Argentina
- Bolivia
- Botswana
- Brazil
- Burundi
- Cape Verde
- Chile
- Colombia
- Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Ecuador
- Eswatini
- Ethiopia
- French Guiana
- Guyana
- Lesotho
- Malawi
- Mauritius
- Mozambique
- Namibia
- Oman
- Panama
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Rwanda
- Seychelles
- South Africa
- Somalia
- Suriname
- Tanzania
- Qatar
- United Arab Emirates (UAE)
- Uruguay
- Venezuela
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
This page was last updated on Fri 19 Mar 2021.
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