The United Kingdom has issued a travel ban on travelers from several South American countries including Guyana.
On Thursday, British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said that the ban which will begin on Friday is as a result of a new COVID-19 variant which has been identified in Brazil.
British and Irish citizens and foreign nationals with residence rights will still be able to travel but must isolate for 10 days.
Shapps told the BBC that he “can’t provide an end date” to the new restrictions.
The new travel ban applies to people who have travelled from, or through, the South American countries of Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela in the last 10 days.
Portugal, including the islands of Madeira and the Azores, is also banned, along with the central American nation of Panama and the former Portuguese colony of Cape Verde, off the West African coast.
Shapps said the current restrictions on global travel meant he didn’t “expect a large number of Brits to have jaunted off to South America and we’re not expecting to see a big repatriation issue as a result”.
Portugal had been included “given its strong travel links with Brazil”, he said, but added that there would be an exemption for hauliers travelling from the country to allow the transportation of essential goods.
He said suspending travel from that European country would act “as another way to reduce the risk of importing infections”.
Qatar and the Caribbean islands of Aruba, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba have also been removed from the UK’s travel corridor lists, meaning anyone arriving from these countries after 04:00 GMT on Saturday will have to quarantine for 10 days.
