The United Kingdom (UK) has tightened Covid-19 restrictions for travellers coming from what it has classified as red list countries under which many Southern African countries fall, something which will make it even harder and expensive for many to visit that country.
Countries in the red list include Zimbabwe, South Africa, the whole of Southern Africa and others in some parts of the world.
According to the changes announced last Friday, people travelling to the UK from red list countries, which are considered very risky, will from October 4 be required to quarantine, at a cost of £2,285 (US$3,137) although fully vaccinated.
“If a country is on the red list, then the 10-day hotel quarantine, at a cost of £2,285 ($3,137) per person, still applies,” reads the travel guidelines posted on the nationalnews.com.
“This includes two Covid tests to be taken before day two and on or after day eight. Travellers must also take a pre-departure Covid test at least three days before travel and a passenger locator form must be filled in at least 48 hours before travel.”
There are penalties for violating that.
According to Forbes Advisor: “If you have been in a country or territory on the red list in the last 10 days, you will only be allowed to enter the UK if you are a British or Irish national or if you have residence rights in the UK.”
However, travellers who have a valid vaccination certificate from 17 countries and territories will be treated as if they had been vaccinated in the UK and can follow the rules for fully vaccinated travellers.
The vaccines approved for entry to the UK are those from Oxford/AstraZeneca, Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and Janssen.
