The UK does not seem to have a consistent strategy at the moment to beat the CoronaVirus. They seem to want to beat it, but also want to win at the Economy front. Both have shown an inverse relationship so far. The UK had, earlier on in June, decided that they would require everyone entering the country to undergo quarantine for 14 days on arrival, while some parts of Europe were preparing to reopen. The UK approach, however, was subject to review, and now, it has been reviewed.
The UK has now announced that restrictions will be lifted for visitors arriving into England from various parts of the world. From July 10, 2020, you will not have to self-isolate when you arrive in England if you:
- are travelling or returning from one of the countries with travel corridor exemption
- have not been to or stopped in a country that’s not on the travel corridors exemption list in the previous 14 days
This applies to all travel to England, by train, ferry, coach, air or any other route. If you have been to or stopped in a country that’s not on the travel corridors exemption list you will have to self-isolate until 14 days have passed since you left that country. Here are the 59 countries which will be a part of the UK Travel Corridors for now:
- Andorra
- Germany
- New Zealand
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Greece
- Norway
- Aruba
- Greenland
- Poland
- Australia
- Grenada
- Réunion
- Austria
- Guadeloupe
- San Marino
- Bahamas
- Hong Kong
- Serbia
- Barbados
- Hungary
- Seychelles
- Belgium
- Iceland
- South Korea
- Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba
- Italy
- Spain
- Croatia
- Jamaica
- St Barthélemy
- Curaçao
- Japan
- St Kitts and Nevis
- Cyprus
- Liechtenstein
- St Lucia
- Czech Republic
- Lithuania
- St Pierre and Miquelon
- Denmark
- Luxembourg
- Switzerland
- Dominica
- Macau
- Taiwan
- Faroe Islands
- Malta
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Fiji
- Mauritius
- Turkey
- Finland
- Monaco
- Vatican City
- France
- Netherlands
- Vietnam
- French Polynesia
- New Caledonia
Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are exempt as they are part of the common travel area. The 14 British Overseas Territories are also exempt.
The important thing to note here is the corridor is for where your flight or ride into England originates from, and not your nationality. For instance, if you flew from Mumbai to London, you won’t be welcome without agreeing to self-isolate. But if you went between Mumbai/Paris and spent 15 days or so there before entering London, you would be welcome without the need to isolate. There are many countries missing from this Travel Corridor list, including India, USA, China, UAE and Qatar amongst others. Remember, a lot of Middle-East investments exist in London, so unless they were already in London before they locked down, they might need access to the city now.
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The lunatics have taken over the asylum
If you travel through Doha with QR without stopover, are you required to have 14days quarantine? It doesn’t make sense to allow anyone on the same flight to enter without quarantine because they would spend 5-6hours on the same flight. So does this rule apply to all QR flights coming into UK? Or only the departure airport is what it matters?
I think their decision should welcome by all. They consider safety for their citizens. This Coronavirus outbreak is really dangerous. Safety should be our first priority. I personally welcome the UK govt’s decision.