(ETH) – Boris Johnson has just shut down all travel corridors in an extraordinary measure to stop more mutant variants of Covid from the UK which could be according to him “vaccine busting”.
According to The Sun, Johnson scrapped all travel corridors for all countries, which means anyone coming into the country from 4 am on Monday will be ordered to quarantine for 10 days – but people can still get a test on day 5 to be released. Johnson claims he was forced to “take additional steps to stop those strains from entering” the country.
He announced that “to protect us against the risk of as yet unidentified new strains, we will also temporarily close all travel corridors from 0400 on Monday.” Johnson gave details of this action and stated that the move will impact all four corners of the UK and that all the rules will be the same, and there’s no time limit on how long it will last for.
The measure will be enforced by more spot checks to ensure people are remaining in self-isolation, too – and anyone caught out will be facing a fine. This comes as at least two new strains – from Brazil and South Africa – have been identified which are even more easily spread – sparking panic among medics.
Boris said tonight: “We’ve made such progress with the vaccine, what we don’t want to see is all that hard work undone by the arrival of a new variant which is vaccine busting as it were.”
Brits have already been banned from going on vacations thanks to the national lockdown – and should only be travelling for work or essential reasons anyway. This announcement will likely spark a scramble for Brits abroad to get back home before the extra quarantine rules kick in on Monday morning.