Britain will add India to its “red list” trip on Friday after detecting 103 cases of a coronavirus variant first identified in the country, Health Minister Matt Hancock said Monday.
“We have made the difficult but crucial decision to add India to the Red List. This means that anyone who is not a UK or Irish resident or a UK citizen cannot enter the UK if they are in India in the last 10 days “Hancock told parliament.
“Residents of the UK and Ireland and UK citizens who have been to India in the past 10 days prior to their arrival must complete hotel quarantine for 10 days from the time of arrival.”
The rules will take effect Friday at 4 a.m. local time (0300 GMT), Hancock added.
The move was taken as a precaution while the variant first identified in India was being assessed. When asked if vaccines being rolled out in Britain worked against the variant, Hancock said he couldn’t give that assurance but wanted to find an answer as soon as possible.
“At the heart of my concern with the variant first found in India is that the vaccines may be less effective in terms of transmission and / or in terms of reducing hospitalization and death,” he said.
“It’s the same concern we have with the variant first found in South Africa, and is the main reason we made the decision today.”
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