Israel, Jerusalem, Namibia, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Uruguay,
Bonaire, St Eustatius & Saba, the Northern Mariana Islands
and the US Virgin Islands have been added to the Travel
Corridor list for England, Wales and Northern Ireland following
a decrease in risk from coronavirus in these countries.
From 4am on Saturday 21st November, passengers arriving into
England, Wales and Northern Ireland 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.
The travel corridor applies for Israel in its entirety, and
Jerusalem in its entirety. For the Occupied Palestinian
Territories, only East Jerusalem is included in the Travel
Corridor. The remainder of the Occupied Palestinian Territories
are not included. Travellers arriving from locations that are
not included will still need to self-isolate for 14 days on
arrival in the UK. This decision is driven by public health
considerations based on epidemiological evidence.
There will be no removals from the Travel Corridors this week.
At the same time, the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development
Office (FCDO) has updated its travel advice to no longer advise
against all but essential travel to Israel, Jerusalem, Namibia,
Rwanda, Uruguay, Bonaire, St Eustatius & Saba, the Northern
Mariana Islands and the US Virgin Islands. The changes reflect
the latest assessments by Public Health England (PHE) of the
risk to travellers in these destinations.
The Government has been 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.
National restrictions introduced on 5 November 2020 remain in
place meaning everyone must stay at home unless travelling for
a very limited set of reasons, including for work or education.
This means people can no longer travel to take holidays or
travel internationally unless for work or other legally
permitted reasons. Those in breach of the rules face penalties
starting at £200 and rising to a maximum of £6,400.
The travel ban on Denmark introduced on 7 November 2020 is also
still in place. British nationals, Irish nationals and people
with the right to reside in the UK who have been in or
transited through Denmark in the 14 days before their arrival
in the UK will need to self-isolate along with all other
members of their household for 14 days from the date they were
last in Denmark. People, who are neither British nationals nor
Irish nationals, and who do not have a right to reside in the
UK will be denied entry. This also applies to freight drivers
who aren’t resident in the UK.
Covid-19 has profoundly changed the nature of international
travel. Travellers should always check the latest advice from
the FCDO, 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.
Penalties for those breaching the self-isolation rules when
returning from non-exempt countries have increased from £1,000
for first offences up to £10,000 for subsequent offences,
mirroring penalties for those breaching self-isolation
following a positive COVID test or contact from Test &
Trace.
