LONDON (CU)_The United Kingdom will close all travel corridors from Monday (Jan 18), in order to protect against the risk of unidentified new strains of COVID-19 entering the country, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced.
These new restrictions came following the ban imposed on travelers from South America and Portugal on Friday, over concerns about a new variant identified in Brazil.
Accordingly, travel corridors will close from 04:00 GMT on Monday, after which, anyone flying into the country will be required to quarantine for up to 10 days, unless they test negative for COVID-19 after five days. According to the Prime Minister, these restrictions will be in place at least until February 15.
Speaking at a Downing Street press conference on Friday, Johnson said it was “vital” to take extra measures as the country is making such strides in protecting the population.
“It’s precisely because we have the hope of that vaccine and the risk of new strains coming from overseas that we must take additional steps now to stop those strains from entering the country,” he said.
Nevertheless, while acknowledging that it was the “right step”, leader of the opposition Labour party, Sir Keir Starmer, called the timing of the decision “slow again”, adding that the public would be thinking “why on earth didn’t this happen before”.
According to latest government figures, the United Kingdom reported 55,761 new COVID-19 infections on Friday, bringing the total number of cases to 3,316,019.
Meanwhile, the John Hopkins University reported that globally, more than two million people have now died of Covid-19 since the pandemic began, of which more than 89,000 accounts for fatalities registered in the UK.
