Country Specific Risk of Coronavirus (COVID-19) (Update 32)

Travel restrictions and self-isolation (quarantine) rules have been place since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020 to help reduce the global spread of COVID-19 and protect the health of the UK public. The range and type of measures vary in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

In recent months new ‘variants’ of SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19, have been detected around the world, including in the UK. Some of these, including the UK variant, transmit more easily between people. Concern remains that virus variants could emerge that cause more severe illness, or evade the immunity produced by COVID-19 vaccines.

The current UK travel restrictions are stringent both to avoid new variants being imported into the UK, and to avoid UK travellers exporting the UK variant during international travel.

Prior to travelling to the UK, all travellers must:

• take a coronavirus (COVID-19) test and get a negative result during the 3 days before travel to the UK
• book an accommodation and/or testing package through the UK Government portal 
• complete a Passenger Locator Form (PLF) declaring which countries have been visited in the 10 days prior to arriving in the UK.

From 15th February 2021, all travellers arriving into the UK must:

• quarantine for 10 days
• take a coronavirus (COVID-19) test on day 2 and day 8 of quarantining
• follow the national lockdown rules for the UK 4 nations country they arrive in

For travellers arriving from, or have been in a country where travel to the UK is banned in the last 10 days, the 10 day quarantine must take place in a managed quarantine hotel

Quarantine rules are different in each of the UK 4 nation countries, therefore prior to travel, travellers must ensure they are able to comply with the rules appropriate to the UK nation they will be arriving in and reside in (if different). Further information can be found in the links below:

• Arrivals into England
• Arrivals into Scotland
• Arrivals into Wales
• Arrivals into Northern Ireland

Country Specific COVID-19 Risk

All TRAVAX country pages include a COVID-19 country specific risk-rating which identifies each country as having a high, moderate or low risk of exposure to COVID-19 for UK travellers.

• This risk rating can be found in the 'Emerging Health Risks' drop down on every country page and each rating is accompanied by appropriate travel advice.

In February 2021, the COVID-19 risk for UK travellers was increased in 12 countries:

• see the individual country outbreak alerts for further details
• The COVID-19 risk rating in each country is being kept under constant review and may change at short notice.

All travellers should be made aware of precautions they should take to reduce their risk of exposure to coronavirus (COVID-19) before, during and after travel as detailed on the fitfortravel website COVID-19: Health Considerations for Travel page.

Travellers should also review the Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) foreign travel advice pages regularly for guidance on travelling abroad, including the latest information on COVID-19 and other non-COVID-19 risks such as safety and security, entry requirements and travel warnings.