UK adds Pakistan to its travel ban ‘red list’

On Friday, the United Kingdom's Foreign Office announced that it was adding Pakistan to the Red List of travel ban countries, with measures coming into force from April 9th.

In a video statement from British High Commissioner Christian Turner, "Red Listing means that only UK and Irish nationals and those with residency rights in the UK will be allowed to travel to the UK if they have been in Pakistan in the 10 days before they arrive".

The Commissioner added that passengers seeking to travel to the UK from Pakistan will have to pay for a mandatory quarantine stay at an approved hotel in the United Kingdom - which will last at least ten days, with rigorous testing.

The measures will come into effect from the 9th of April, 4:00AM onwards, with the commissioner stating that direct flights between both countries will continue to operate as usual "But [their] schedules could change".

The Pakistani government and medical officials had earlier blamed the rise in cases on a coronavirus variant, that was first reported in the United Kingdom.

Currently, the rules for the countries in the Red List include:

• Individuals must only arrive at an authorised airport.
• Individuals must provide a negative COVID-19 test to travel to the UK.
• Their results will need to be provided upon arrival in the UK, or else a fine of £500 could be imposed.
• Individuals must complete an online "passenger locator form" in the 48 hours prior to travelling to the UK.
• If the quarantine rules are broken, fines of up to £10,000 may be imposed.