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Red list reduced to just 7 countries
Finally, we are beginning to see some sense from the government in taking proportional steps to protect the UK. The UK is removing a whopping 47 countries from England’s red list, meaning they go under the “rest of the world” category, where rules depend on vaccination status.
The following countries will be removed from the red list from Monday 11 October:
- Afghanistan
- Angola
- Argentina
- Bolivia
- Botswana
- Brazil
- Burundi
- Cape Verde
- Chile
- Congo (Democratic Republic)
- Costa Rica
- Cuba
- Eritrea
- Eswatini
- Ethiopia
- French Guiana
- Georgia
- Guyana
- Indonesia
- Lesotho
- Malawi
- Mayotte
- Mexico
- Mongolia
- Montenegro
- Mozambique
- Myanmar
- Namibia
- Nepal
- Paraguay
- Philippines
- Réunion
- Rwanda
- Seychelles
- Sierra Leone
- Somalia
- South Africa
- Sudan
- Suriname
- Tanzania
- Thailand
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Tunisia
- Uganda
- Uruguay
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
This will leave only 7 countries on the red list which requires hotel quarantine
- Peru
- Ecuador
- Colombia
- Panama
- Dominican Republic
- Haiti
- Venezuela
The government will also be recognising those with fully-vaccinated status from 37 new countries and territories including India, Turkey, and Ghana, treating them the same as UK fully vaccinated passengers.
Wales has also it will be following the Westminster government’s decision to slash the red list to only seven countries.
New lateral flow tests for day 2
It is also just coming out that the change from requiring a day 2 PCR test to a lateral flow is being finalised. Apparently, travellers will have to send a picture of their lateral flow test to verify their results. There was talk of their needing to be video appointments which I think would completely sink the testing industry, so this is good news. It’s not been announced whether NHS tests will be acceptable.
There is no firm date but the government have said the change will happen before the end of October.
Footballers demand red list quarantine reduced
Footballers have been today demanding that the red list quarantine is reduced to just five days, the same as the test to release timeframe. With only 7 countries left on it, it is probably less important now. I can understand the reasoning but personally if we are going to concentrate on only the most extreme risk countries for Covid, making it 10 days seems far safer to me.
The players (44 Premier League, EFL and Women’s Super League) have signed a letter to Boris Johnson after the government agreed fully vaccinated footballers could instead quarantine in a club-approved facility for 10 days, leaving only to train or play. The players issue is that 10 days could mean that they are away from their family for very extended periods of time.
I think with today’s announcement that will fall on deaf ears!
3 comments
Ref lateral flow tests for Day 2 – I sincerely hope the NHS will not be paying for tests for travellers. With 6m people waiting for treatment this would be a waste of public money.
On the footballers – there is no sympathy from me – they are paid literally tens or hundreds of thousand a week – and recently proved how they have no respect for the laws of the country anyway – hiring private jets to go and play for their country and expecting to swan back in with no repercussions.
I don’t know if anyone watched This Morning today, one of the guests they had on says she doesn’t understand why she has to pay for lateral flow when she is due to go on holiday because it is “free” on NHS. One of the 3 founding principles of NHS is ‘That it be free at the point of delivery’. It doesn’t actually mean it is ‘free’ the lateral flow tests we are using comes from general taxation. There is such thing as a free lunch.
I agree with Keith A, I am more than happy to pay for my own PCR and/or lateral flow tests to go on holiday because going on holiday is my choice. It is the same principle that if someone travel to a country that requires travel vaccinations then it is a private prescription.
Nice to see the sham of return from holiday testing still rumbles on. With over a months notice why are the government bowing to the testing companies who are not surprisingly saying they haven’t access to enough lateral flow tests.
They’ve screwed the public for months now charging what ever thay want, with Government help (how many MP’s are in the background of these companies who have made millions in the last year?) Of course they are going to say they can’t do lateral flows yet. They are pissed off at seeing the demise of the cash cow PCR and surprise surprise this inept government is letting themselves be dictated to.
Equally when it does come in what real use is sending a picture of a negative lateral flow test. You could dip it in water to get a negative test or get someone else to do it for you.
As through this whole process, make it meaningful or don’t bother
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