India has been added to COVID ‘red list’ for flight

India has been added to a “red list” of countries from which most travel to the UK is banned, over fears of a new Covid variant, the health secretary has said.

From 04:00 BST on Friday 23 April, most people who have travelled from India in the last 10 days will be refused entry.

British or Irish passport holders, or people with UK residence rights, will be allowed in but must quarantine in a government-approved hotel for 10 days.

Matt Hancock said there had been 103 UK cases of the India variant.

In a statement to the House of Commons on Monday, the health secretary said the vast majority of the cases of the new variant had been linked to international travel.

He said test samples had been analysed to see if the new variant had any “concerning characteristics” such as greater transmissibility or resistance to treatments and vaccines.

He told MPs: “After studying the data, and on a precautionary basis, we’ve made the difficult but vital decision to add India to the red list.”

Mr Hancock said there had also been 557 cases of the South Africa variant found in the UK since December, with a “cluster” of cases in south London and isolated cases in Barnet, Birmingham and Sandwell over the last week.

While around two-thirds were related to international travel, there had been a “small amount” of community transmission, he added.

He said the government was “ramping up” plans for a booster shot to ensure vaccines stayed “ahead of the virus”.