UK bans S America arrivals over Covid strain: Update

Adds updates to travel corridor

The UK government has announced a ban on passengers arriving from Portugal and South America over concerns about a new strain of Covid-19 detected in Brazil.

Passengers travelling from Portugal, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela and Cape Verde will not be permitted to enter the UK from 04:00 GMT tomorrow. The ban does not apply to British and Irish nationals, visa holders or permanent UK residents, although they will have to self-isolate for 10 days along with their households.

"There is an exemption for hauliers travelling from Portugal, to allow transport of essential goods," transport secretary Grant Shapps said.

In a further update announced by Shapps via his Twitter account, the government has removed Chile, Qatar, the Portuguese territories of Madeira and the Azores, and the Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba, Bonaire, St Eustatius and Saba from its travel corridor list. Travellers arriving in England from Qatar and those Dutch Caribbean islands after 04:00 GMT on Saturday 16 January will need to self-isolate for 10 days.

The discovery of yet another strain of Covid-19 and the further tightening of travel restrictions will weigh on the already struggling aviation sector. New variants have previously been identified in the UK and South Africa, and many countries still have bans on arrivals from both nations.

Global forward flight bookings already indicate weak passenger demand during the first quarter. Bookings are down by more than 80pc in February and March compared with the same period last year, according to the International Air Transport Association (Iata).

By Florence Schmit