Strict new requirements will be set for travelers who want to enter Britain from Monday as they are concerned about new mutations of the deadly coronavirus.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson imposed new rules requiring anyone traveling to Britain to undergo a negative coronavirus test within the previous 72 hours and to go into immediate isolation for up to 10 days, The Times of London reported.
Government data shows that the number of patients admitted to the UK with coronavirus has increased by 35 percent in the past week. The burden is taking a heavy toll on health workers.
The restrictions have no end date, but the government said they will last at least a month. Since most leisure travel has already been banned, the new rules are likely to affect business travel and UK citizens returning from other countries.
The new rules take effect days after the prime minister said the country’s vaccine program will run around the clock seven days a week. Johnson said that after advances with vaccines, “what we don’t want to see all that work undone by the advent of a new variant that destroys vaccines,” reported The Times.
According to Johns Hopkins University, the number of new coronavirus cases in the UK was 55,885 on Saturday. That was lower than the record of 68,192 on January 8. New deaths reached 1,285, also lower than Wednesday’s record of 1,568 deaths.
The virus has killed nearly 87,500 people in the UK, including 76,338 in England.