British Transport Minister Grant Shapps made an announcement on Thursday, listing the following countries in South America to go on the “ban list”: Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Cape Verde, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela. Grant Shapps also added Portugal, which has close ties with Brazil, to the list in order to reduce the risk of importing infections.
The new travel restrictions will not apply to British and Irish nationals and third country nationals with residence rights. Passengers returning from these destinations must self-isolate for ten days along with their households.
This week, the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was concerned with the new variant of Covid-19 spreading in Brazil.
We already have tough measures as you know to protect this country from new infections coming in from abroad. We are taking steps to do that in respect of the Brazilian variant. It is fair to say we still have lots of questions about this variant. And we don’t know for instance whether the South African variant is vaccine resistant,” Johnson said.
The coronavirus vaccine programme is set to start in Brazil next week, with two vaccines, by AstraZeneca and by Sinovac Biotech used in the government's vaccination plan.
Among the latest changes to the UK travel policy is the requirement for travellers to present proof of a negative coronavirus (COVID-19) test result, when entering Britain.
“You may not be able to board to travel to England, and could be fined £500 on arrival into England,” if the requirement is not met.