UK Obliges Arrivals to Self-Isolate from Estonia & Latvia

By adding Estonia and Latvia to the list, the United Kingdom has extended the list of individuals obliged to self-isolate for a period of 14 days upon arrival in England.

As of Saturday, November 28, arrivals from the two Baltic states, Estonia and Latvia, have to go into self-isolation upon arrival after both countries have been withdrawn from the travel corridor list of the United Kingdom due to a rise in both cases of Coronavirus.

The decision was announced in a press release by the UK Department for Transport, based on data from the Joint Biosecurity Centre and Public Health England (PHE).

'Data from the Joint Biosecurity Centre and Public Health England (PHE) revealed a major improvement in both the degree and pace of reported cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) in these destinations, leading to the withdrawal from the existing list of travel corridors by ministers,' the Department of Transport states in the press release.

At the same time, following a reduction in the risk of Coronavirus in these destinations, the following islands and countries were added to the government's travel corridor list, thereby exempting arrivals from quarantine criteria from those territories:

• Samoa
• Kiribati
• Micronesia's Federated Nations
• Tonga
• Vanuatu
• Islands of Solomon
• Bhutan
• Timor East
• In
• Aruba

At the same time, the Chief Medical Officer advised the United Kingdom authorities to lift the travel ban imposed on Denmark on 7 November due to the spread of COVID-19 to mink farms, after the Danish health authorities found COVID-19 to be the most likely extinct mink variant.

However, in an attempt to avoid any possible danger, the United Kingdom has not added Denmark to the travel corridors; thus, all arrivals from Denmark, reaching the United Kingdom directly or indirectly, will remain obliged to self-isolate for 14 days.

The national restrictions implemented at the beginning of the month remain effective; thus, citizens are not currently allowed to go on vacation and those who break the rules are subject to penalties.

All passengers will need to complete a passenger locator form upon arrival in the UK, including those coming from excluded destinations, according to arrivals from outside the country.

Although all travelers coming from countries not included in the travel corridor lists of the United Kingdom will be able to leave self-isolation after five days from December 15, if they test for COVID-19 and result in negative results.

After attracting a lot of criticism from the UK that its 14-day quarantine was one of the most unsuccessful strategies to prevent the spread of the virus by travelers, the new COVID-19 research technique is being implemented.