On the day India reported 2.59 lakh cases of corona virus and over 1761 deaths the United Kingdom on Monday (April 19) added India to its travel ‘red list’ which restricts other passengers from entering the country.
The move requires all British nationals travelling from India to quarantine at a hotel for 10 days after reaching Britain. It will come into effect from April 23.
Earlier on Monday the British Prime Minister’s visit to India was cancelled following a big jump in the number of corona virus cases in the last few weeks.
On the other hand, the US public health agency, on Tuesday warned travellers against heading for India even if they are fully vaccinated against Covid-19. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), if such a journey is unavoidable, the travellers are advised to get all doses of vaccination before setting for India. It has also placed the country in the highest Level 4 category which implies “very high level of Covid-19”.
Meanwhile, it is not clear whether Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga will visit India or not. He was to make a trip to India after Boris Johnson’s three-day tour from April 25.
The total number of people affected by COVID-19 in India has crossed the 1.53 crore mark–thus India is second only to the United States.
According to the BBC, ‘red list’ is the government’s list of 40 countries from which there are strict restrictions on travel to England.
Northern Ireland has similar rules in place, while Scotland’s are stricter and Wales does not currently have international flights arriving.
The rules are designed to protect the UK from new variants of Covid, against which existing vaccines may be less effective.
The United Kingdom had on April 9 put Pakistan and Bangladesh also in the ‘red list’.
Travel to England is banned for anyone who has been in one of the countries in the past 10 days, except for UK citizens and residents, who have to isolate on arrival at government-approved hotels for 10 days.
