Following data showing a significant increase in confirmed cases of coronavirus (COVID-19), people arriving in England from Andorra, Belgium and The Bahamas from 4am Saturday 8 August 2020 will need to self-isolate for 2 weeks as the countries are removed from the travel exemptions list.
Intending travellers are urged to check the latest advice from the FCO before travelling and will be required to fill in a passenger locator form before returning home.
Data from the Joint Biosecurity Centre and Public Health England has indicated a significant change in both the level and pace of confirmed cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) in all 3 destinations, leading to ministers removing these from the current list of travel corridors.
There has been a consistent increase in COVID-19 cases per 100,000 of the population in Belgium since the middle of July, with a 4-fold increase in total cases over this time period. In Andorra, new cases per week have increased 5-fold over the same time period, while in The Bahamas the weekly case rate peaked at 78.6 last week, up from 3.1 in mid-July.
Brunei and Malaysia have been added to the government’s travel corridor list following a decrease in confirmed cases of coronavirus. From 4am on Tuesday 11 August 2020, passengers arriving to England from these destinations will no longer need to self-isolate, so long as they haven’t been in or transited through any other non-exempt countries in the 14 days preceding their arrival.
At the same time, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has also updated its travel advice to advise against all but essential travel to Andorra, Belgium and The Bahamas. Brunei and Malaysia are already exempt from the FCO’s global advisory against non-essential travel.
The government has made consistently clear it will take decisive action if necessary to contain the virus, including removing countries from the travel corridors list rapidly if the public health risk of people returning from a particular country without self-isolating becomes too high.
People currently in Andora, Belgium and The Bahamas are encouraged to follow the local rules and check the FCO travel advice pages on GOV.UK for further information. The government is urging employers to be understanding of those returning from these destinations who now will need to self-isolate.
COVID-19 has profoundly changed the nature of international travel. Travellers should always check the latest advice from the FCO, given the potential for changing coronavirus infection rates to affect both the advice about travelling to other countries and rules about self-isolation on return. All travellers, including those from exempt destinations, will still be required to show a complete passenger locator form on arrival into the UK unless they fall into a small group of exemptions.
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