UK Travel Update: UK Red List Update from 11 October

The UK government has made it much easier for British passengers to travel abroad. The UK has adopted a simplified rule for travel which came into force on 4 October with the traffic light system scrapped in favour of a single red list.

From today, 11 October 2021, forty-seven nations were taken off the red list at 4 AM, meaning anyone arriving from places including South Africa and Brazil no longer needs to be quarantined in a hotel.

In a major overhaul, only seven countries remain on the red list.

Announcing the update on Twitter this afternoon, UK transport secretary Grant Shapps confirmed that the 47 recategorised countries will be moved to Britain's “rest of the world” list.

I'm also making changes so travellers visiting England have fewer entry requirements, by recognising those with fully-vax status from 37 new countries and territories including India, Turkey and Ghana, treating them the same as UK fully-vax passengers.
Grant Shapps tweeted

Countries Remaining in UK's Red List

The red list now contains just seven countries, all of them in Central and South America.

The countries on the red list are:

Colombia
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
Haiti

Panama
Peru
Venezuela

Travel restrictions are updated every three weeks by the UK government, meaning the next update is expected on or around Thursday 28 October.

For updated information from the UK government, check the official website.

Acceptable COVID Vaccinations in the England

The UK government is also easing its vaccination requirements for a further 37 countries and territories.

This means that vaccinated passengers travelling from these non-red list places will only need to take a day two test upon arrival in England just like returning, fully-vaccinated UK residents.

Travellers must have had a complete course of one of the following vaccines at least 14 days before arriving in England:

Oxford/AstraZeneca
Pfizer BioNTech
Moderna
Janssen

Formulations of these vaccines, such as AstraZeneca Covishield, AstraZeneca Vaxzevria and Moderna Takeda, also qualify as approved vaccines.

Those without authorised vaccines or not fully vaccinated arriving from a non-red list destination must do the following:

Take a pre-departure test 3 days before arrival
Complete passenger locator form
Complete 10 days of quarantine
Take day 2 and day 8 test

There are different requirements and restrictions for Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Check out the UK government website if you plan to visit any of these countries.

Upcoming Changes to Testing Requirements

The announcement also confirmed that fully vaccinated passengers, including under 18s returning from a non-red list country, will have the option to replace their day 2 test with a cheaper lateral flow test, followed by a free PCR test if positive.

However, the government is yet to give a date this new rule will be in place. They have said it will be some time in ‘late October.'

The British government also confirmed passengers taking postal tests will be able to send a picture of their lateral flow test to give their test results. Until now tests have had to be sent in the post.

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