UK Government Hasn’t Ruled Out Adding More Countries to Red List

The UK Government has said that it hasn't ruled out adding more countries to the Red List if the newly discovered Omicron variant continues to spread

The UK Government has said that it hasn’t ruled out adding more countries to the Red List if the newly discovered Omicron variant continues to spread.

Speaking to Sky News, Health Minister Gillian Keegan said the Government would take “immediate action” following a spike in Europe.

The Minister refused to rule out whether her department would imminently add new countries to the list, reiterating a pledge to “keep things going” without shutting off travel full stop.

She said: “Obviously, we’ve put some more countries on the red list, but we’re not doing some things which would potentially shut travel down altogether.”

The UK government reintroduced the Red List for travel, adding six African countries; South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia and Zimbabwe.

Only two of those six countries have notable concentrations of the Omicron variant – South Africa and Botswana.

They have the most cases with 19 and 77 each respectively, however another 13 nations have also reported infections of the new variant.

The UK has the highest totals in Europe, with 14 cases between England and Scotland, five to nine respectively. Portugal and the Netherlands have comparable rates, with national authorities identifying 13 in each country.

Germany and Hong Kong have reported three cases each, while Australia and Denmark have reported two.

Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Israel, Italy and Spain have each recorded a single Omicron case.

Some of these countries could soon join the six African countries the Red List.

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