Britain will add India to its “red list” on Friday after 103 cases of a coronavirus variant first identified in the country were detected, Health Minister Matt Hancock said on Monday.
“We have made the difficult but necessary decision to add India to the Red List. This means that anyone who is not a British or Irish resident or a British citizen will not be able to enter the UK if they are in the last ten years. days were not in India, ‘Hancock told parliament.
“British and Irish residents and British nationals who have been in India for the past ten days prior to their arrival must complete the hotel quarantine for ten days from the time of arrival.”
The rules take effect Friday at 4 p.m. local time (0300 GMT), Hancock added.
The move was taken as a precaution while the variant first identified in India was assessed. Asked whether vaccines in Britain work against the variant, Hancock says he can not give the insurance, but that he wants an answer as soon as possible.
“The core of my concern about the variant first found in India is that the vaccines may be less effective in terms of transmission and / or the reduction of hospitalization and death,” he said.
“This is the same concern we have with the variant that was first found in South Africa, and that is the main reason why we made the decision today.”
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.