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COVID-19 in UK: Boris Johnson Announces Closing of Travel Corridors

On Friday, UK Prime Minister said that the authorities decided to close all travel corridors from Monday morning in an attempt to “protect against the risk of new yet unidentified strains” of the novel coronavirus.

He also said that all people arriving in the country from abroad must show a negative COVID-19 test before setting off.

This announcement came shortly after a travel ban was imposed on travelers from America and Portugal on Friday. After a new variant of COVID-19 was identified in Brazil, the British government fears that the territory’s situation will worsen.

According to Boris Johnson, these new restrictions would last until at least February 15.

In the UK, daily new infections reach five-digit figures. On Friday, officials reported another 55,761 new cases after registering 48,682 the day before. Authorities also reported another 1,280 coronavirus-related deaths within 28 days of a positive test.

These figures bring the total number of deaths in the UK to 87,291 since the pandemic began.

At a press conference in Downing Street, Johnson said it was vital to take additional action now “when day by day we are making such strides in protecting the population.” He also added: “It’s precisely because we have the hope of that vaccine and the risk of new strains coming from overseas that we must take additional steps now to stop those strains from entering the country.”

As he has explained, travel corridors must shut down as of Monday at 4:00 GMT.

Subsequently, all people arriving in the UK must undergo quarantine for ten days unless they get a negative result in their COVID-19 test after five days. The prime minister also explained that, after speaking with the delegated administrations, it was determined that the rules would apply throughout all the territory.

The government will also step up monitoring and security at the border, he added.

The travel corridors came last summer as a proposal that would allow people from countries with few COVID-19 cases to travel to the UK without self-quarantine. However, now that the situation has worsened in the UK, they do not appear to be a safe alternative.

Airlines UK said it supported the latest restrictions as the government would remove them “when it is safe to do so.”

Moreover, CEO Tim Alderslade said brokers went “to lifeline for the industry” last year. “But things change, and there’s no doubting this is a serious health emergency,” he added.

Boris Johnson also warned that the NHS is under “extraordinary pressures” after having the highest number of hospital admissions in one day.

There were 4,134 new admissions on Tuesday and the UK has over 37,000 COVID-19 patients in hospitals right now.