Visitors from Bangladesh, Philippines, Pakistan and Kenya will be banned from traveling to UK from 4:00am of April 9, said the UK government’s website gov.uk.
The four countries have been added to the red list to protect the UK against new variants of novel coronavirus, at a critical time for the vaccine programme.
From 4:00am on April 9, international visitors who have departed from or transited through those four countries in the previous 10 days will be refused entry into the UK.
Only British and Irish citizens, or those with residence rights in the UK (including long-term visa holders), will be allowed to enter and they must stay in a government-approved quarantine facility for 10 days, says gov.uk.
No direct flight bans from these countries will be put in place, but passengers are advised to check their travel plans before departing for the UK, it said.
During their stay in the UK, passengers will be required to take a coronavirus test on or before day 2 and on or after day 8, and they will not be allowed to shorten their quarantine period on receipt of a negative test result. They will also not be able to end their managed quarantine early through the Test to Release scheme, it added.
British nationals currently in the countries on the red list should make use of the commercial options available if they wish to return home. Commercial routes that will enable British and Irish nationals and residents to return to the UK continue to operate.
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