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Daily Mirror

National

Chiara Fiorillo

All the countries added to UK's red list where Brits must use a quarantine hotel

The UK has added six more countries to the red list for overseas travel, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced tonight.

The list has been updated based on the government's response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Shapps confirmed some popular destinations including Malta and the Balearic Islands have been placed on the green list, giving Brits hopes for a summer holiday abroad.

But he also announced new countries would be added to the red list - and people coming back from those destinations will need to quarantine in a hotel, forking out £1,750 for their stay.

The newly affected countries are the Dominican Republic, Eritrea, Haiti, Kuwait, Mongolia, Tunisia and Uganda.

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The Dominican Republic will also be added to the red list from Wednesday (Getty Images)

They been deemed as presenting a high public health risk to the UK from known variants of concern, high-risk variants under investigation or due to them having a high prevalence of Covid-19.

All the latest changes will come into place from 4am on June 30.

Only British nationals and UK residents will be allowed to enter the UK if returning from red list destinations.

Those who are returning will need to book their quarantine hotel stay through the government website, which will include the hotel stay, quarantine transport and Covid-19 tests that will need to be taken on days two and eight of their self-isolation.

Grant Shapps updated the country on the government's latest travel announcement (Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Meanwhile, Mr Shapps also said that fully vaccinated UK residents will be allowed to travel to amber list countries "later in the summer" without having to quarantine for 10 days on their return.

The government will drop its official advice to people not to travel to the amber list - which includes the vast majority of holiday destinations, such as France, Spain and Italy.

Mr Shapps tweeted: "Thanks to our successful vaccination programme, our intention is that later in the summer UK residents who are fully vaccinated will not have to isolate when travelling from amber list countries.

"We’ll set out further details next month."

People returning from Eritrea will need to self-isolate in a government-managed hotel (Exclusivepix Media)

Currently, people returning from the amber list must take a pre-departure test, a Day 2 test and a test on Day 8 after their return.

But because at the moment the rules remain unchanged, the Department for Transport said: “Further detail will be set out next month including the rules which will apply to children and those unable to be vaccinated, how we will operationalise this approach at the border, and the dates on which these changes will come into effect.

"Until these measures are introduced, all passengers, whether vaccinated or not, must continue to abide by quarantine rules for returning to the UK from an amber list country, and it is recommended that people should not travel to amber list countries at the moment.

"Individuals who fail to comply with their legal duty to quarantine at home following international travel can be fined £1,000, increasing to up to £10,000 for repeat offences."