Passengers from India arriving into the UK must now quarantine in a hotel for 11 nights, as the country becomes the 40th and largest addition to the red list.
As of 4am on Friday 23 April, India was placed on the UK’s list of high-risk countries, and anybody who is not a British or Irish resident will be barred from entering.
Its addition to the list earlier this week sparked a race across continents, as passengers tried to beat the deadline and avoid a bill of £1,750 per person in quarantine.
Prior to the deadline, all citizens would be required to quarantine at home for 10 days.
India was placed on the red list due to concerns over rising infection levels and a new variant, B.1.617, that is more transmissible.
India, home to more than 1.3 billion people, joins countries such as United Arab Emirates and South Africa on the red list.
Yesterday, it emerged that London Heathrow rejected requests by airlines to add extra flights from India.
The UK’s leading airport, which is handling between 10 and 15 per cent of its pre-pandemic passengers, turned down additional arrivals because of fears about long queues for UK Border Force.
Heathrow’s executives have said arriving travellers are waiting up to six hours to be processed at passport control. The airport blames insufficient resourcing by UK Border Force.
Other countries and territories around the world have also banned flights from India amid the Covid crisis.
