The UK government will add Saudi Arabia and Botswana to its safe list of countries from Saturday 12 December.
The addition of the two countries to the travel corridors list means that from 4am tomorrow, passengers arriving in England 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 additions were made after an “in-depth analysis of the coronavirus epidemic in these countries”.
At the same time, Spain’s Canary Islands have been removed from the list, meaning arrivals in England from the islands will need to self-isolate.
The government says that the move follows a sharp increase in test positivity in the islands.
From 15 December, passengers arriving in England from countries not featured on the travel corridor list will have the option to take a test from a private provider after five days of self-isolation, with a negative test result releasing them from the need to self-isolate.