The Government recently added the Philippines, Pakistan, Kenya and Bangladesh to its “red list” of countries from where entry to England is banned.
These four nations have been added to “protect the country against new variants of Covid-19 at a critical time for the vaccine programme”.
The ban came into effect from 4am on Friday 9 April.
It takes the number of red list countries up to 40, with South America and much of Africa already on the list.
Red list countries – in full
- Angola
- Argentina
- Bangladesh (will be added to the list 4am Friday 9 April)
- Bolivia
- Botswana
- Brazil
- Burundi
- Cape Verde
- Chile
- Colombia
- Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Ecuador
- Eswatini
- Ethiopia
- French Guiana
- Guyana
- Kenya (will be added to the list 4am Friday 9 April)
- Lesotho
- Malawi
- Mozambique
- Namibia
- Oman
- Pakistan (will be added to the list 4am Friday 9 April)
- Panama
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Philippines (will be added to the list 4am Friday 9 April)
- Qatar
- Rwanda
- Seychelles
- Somalia
- South Africa
- Suriname
- Tanzania
- United Arab Emirates (UAE)
- Uruguay
- Venezuela
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
How does the red list work?
International visitors who have departed from or transited through any country on the red list in the last 10 days will be refused entry to England.
Only British and Irish citizens, or those with residence rights in the UK (including long-term visa holders), will be allowed to enter.
These people will immediately be taken to a designated quarantine hotel, where they must stay for 10 days.
During their stay, passengers must take a mandatory Covid test on day two and day eight. If they test positive they will have to stay for another 10 days after the positive result.
People must may for their hotel stay themselves, at a cost of £1,750. Families can share one room for the same price, but must pay extra for additional tests.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “I make no apologies for the strength of these measures, because we’re dealing with one of the strongest threats to our public health that we’ve faced as a nation.”
Red list countries are determined by the prevalence of different variants of Covid-19, such as the South African and Brazilian strains.
