Thursday, January 14, 2021

UK Orders Travel Ban From South America & Portugal Over COVID Variant Concerns


UK Transport Secretary Twitter Announcement

#15,713


In the past couple of hours the UK has ordered a ban on travelers coming from South America (other than British & Irish Nationals who must self-isolate for 10 days) due to growing concerns over the the spread of COVID VOCs (variants of concern) in Brazil, Argentina, and elsewhere in the region. 

Travelers coming from Portugal are included, given the amount of travel between Brazil and that country. 

The new ban will come into force tomorrow - January 15th - at 04:00 GMT, and will cover people who have travelled from, or through, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Cape Verde, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela in the last 10 days.

All this comes on the heels of an announcement yesterday requiring all travelers to the UK to have a recent (72 hours or less) negative COVID test starting on January 18th.


Take a coronavirus test before you travel to England
From 4am on Monday 18 January 2021, you must have proof of a negative coronavirus (COVID-19) test to travel to England.
You must take a test even if:
You must take the test in the 3 days before you start your journey to England.

For example, if you travel on Friday, you must take a test no earlier than Tuesday.

You will need to present the proof of your negative test before you board to travel to England.

If you don’t present proof of a negative test result certificate, you may not be able to board any form of transport to travel to England.

If you arrive in England without proof of a negative test result, you could be fined £500.
The United States ordered a similar strategy earlier this week, to begin on January 26th.


While there is still much we don't know about the COVID variants springing up around the world, those that carry the E484K mutation are viewed as potentially more dangerous, and so governments are taking steps to prevent, or at least limit, opportunities for it to be imported into their country. 

Whether, and for how long, these sorts of measures can keep these variants at bay is unknown. In many countries, it is likely these variants have already gained a foothold. 

Over the past week we've looked at the South American variants a number of times, including:

Fiocruz : Technical Note on New Variant of Sars-CoV-2 in Amazonas, Brazil

Virological: Another E484K South American Variant To Ponder

Japan: NIID Reporting A New COVID Variant Detected In 4 Travelers From Brazil

PrePrint: Genomic Evidence of a Sars-Cov-2 Reinfection Case With E484K Spike Mutation in Brazil


The trend of banning, or severely restricting, international travel to contain these emerging variants is gaining momentum around the globe. While an understandable reaction, they are likely - at best - only a delaying action.

But even so, the hope is they will provide a few extra weeks, or possibly months, to roll out vaccines.  

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