UK is doing excellent when it comes to Coronavirus (much, much better than before) whereas several other countries are still suffering from the pandemic that’s badly hitting them. India, for example, is one of those countries.

What happened?

After the South African variant, the government has been wary of the risk of new variations, so the Indian double-mutant arriving in the UK was not good news. Action had to be taken quick, before it would spread rapidly and repeat history.

What restrictions have been put?

103 cases of the Indian variant have been detected, therefore today (Monday), to the House of Commons, Matt Hancock (the Secretary of State for Health) announced that India would be put on the red list for travel, starting on Friday 23rd April 04:00.

What does this mean?

What this means is that people who travelled from India in the last 10 days wouldn’t be permitted entry. However, British or Irish passport holders would be allowed but MUST self-isolate in a hotel for 10 days, and not go home.

Which other countries were put on the red list for travel before?

Angola

Argentina

Bangladesh

Bolivia

Botswana

Brazil

Burundi

Cape Verde

Chile

Colombia

Democratic Republic of Congo

Ecuador

Eswatini

Ethiopia

French Guiana

Guyana

India

Kenya

Lesotho

Malawi

Mozambique

Namibia

Oman

Pakistan

Panama

Paraguay

Peru

Philippines

Qatar

Rwanda

Seychelles

Somalia

South Africa

Suriname

Tanzania

United Arab Emirates

Uruguay

Venezuela

Zambia

Zimbabwe

This pandemic has caused LOADS of countries on the red list, but hopefully everything will be fine soon.

Stay safe!