Qatar & Oman among 4 countries added to the Red List

Qatar, Oman, Ethopia and Sudan have all been added to the UK government’s list of Red List countries. Direct flights from countries on the Red List are not allowed to operate to the UK. In addition, any traveller that has travelled to or transited through a Red List country in the 10 days preceding their arrival in the UK must quarantine in a designated hotel for 10 days.

The ban will come into effect at 4am on Friday 19th March 2021.

The addition of Qatar to the Red List will deal a severe blow to travellers coming to the UK from destination across Africa, Asia and Australia. Qatar Airways filled the gap in long haul aviation to and from the UK following Emirates flights being banned from the UK as a result of the addition of the United Arab Emirates to the Red List in late January. The Gulf airlines are responsible for carrying a significant proportion of UK long haul travellers.

Under the rules, Qatar Airways will not be able to operate flights from Qatar to the UK from Friday. This will have a devastating impact on UK citizens currently overseas that are booked on to return on Qatar Airways flights.

Only UK residents and citizens that have been through a red list country within the 10 days prior to their arrival are allowed to enter the UK. Any traveller that is not a citizen or resident in the UK is banned from entering the UK if they have travelled through a Red List country within 10 days of their arrival in the UK.

The DfT announced the addition of more countries to the Red List as a result of “increased risk of importation of [Covid] variants of concern”.