The UK government has announced that Uruguay, Namibia and the US Virgin Islands will be removed from the list of travel corridors following data showing a significant increase in confirmed cases in the countries.
In Namibia, new cases per week have increased by 334 per cent since late November. In Uruguay, new cases per week have increased by 295 per cent over the same time period. In the US Virgin Islands, new cases per week have increased by 108 per cent.
The changes mean that travellers arriving in England from those countries after 4am on Saturday will need to go into quarantine for ten days.
The government also announced that there would be a two-week pause for any changes to the list until 7 January when the regular process resumes “unless data from a country shows a significant increase in risk and requires urgent action”.