Zimbabwe is among 23 African countries to be removed from the list of 54 countries whose travellers are required to quarantine in an approved hotel at their own cost for 10 days when they visit the United Kingdom.
In a notice on Thursday, UK Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps, said he would be cutting 47 destinations from the red list starting on October 11, “with just 7 countries and territories remaining.”
“The measures announced today mark the next step as we continue to open up travel and provide stability for passengers and industry, while remaining on track to keep travel open for good,” Shapps said.
The 23 African countries removed from the list are Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Cape Verde, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, eSwatini, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The 24 other countries to be removed from the red list are mostly from Asia and South America. These include Afghanistan, Brazil, Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand and Uruguay.
Under the red list rules, travellers from targeted countries – fully vaccinated or not – are required to quarantine for 10 full days in a managed quarantine hotel and to take two COVID-19 tests during that period.
Those who break the quarantine rules would face a penalty of up to £10,000 (about US$13,600).
JN/APA