London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Oct 07, 2025

UK adds India to Covid-19 travel 'red list' in 'difficult but vital decision' after detecting 100 cases of new variant

UK adds India to Covid-19 travel 'red list' in 'difficult but vital decision' after detecting 100 cases of new variant

India has been added to the UK government's so-called travel 'red list' of countries in response to a new Covid-19 variant, just hours after Boris Johnson cancelled his visit to Delhi amid a surge in infections there.
The UK has detected 103 cases of a new variant first identified in India, the "vast majority" of which are linked to international travel, Health Secretary Matt Hancock told MPs in parliament on Monday.

"We've been analysing samples from these cases to see if this variant has any concerning characteristics, like greater transmissibility or resistance to treatments and vaccines, meaning that it needs to be listed as a variant of concern," he said.

"After studying the data and on a precautionary basis, we've made the difficult but vital decision to add India to the red list."

India's addition to the list means that, from 4am on Friday, people who are not UK or Irish residents or British citizens cannot enter the UK if they've been in India in the previous 10 days.

People from these groups who have been in India within the last 10 days will have to quarantine in a UK hotel for 10 days on arrival.

The quarantine is mandatory, with fines of up to £10,000 ($13,990) for those who flout the rules.

The announcement comes after Johnson said on Monday morning that he would no longer fly to India to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, where the pair were to discuss climate and trade, among other issues.

Speaking about the cancellation, Johnson said he and Modi had come to the conclusion that their meeting should be postponed, saying it was "only sensible" given India’s Covid-19 situation.

India, which has a population of more than 1.3 billion people, recorded a further 1,620 deaths from the virus on Sunday.

The country has been reporting 200,000 new cases a day since April 15.

The new variant, which is apparently more transmissible and resistant to vaccines, has taken hold in the country and is now responsible for the majority of new cases in India.

The 'B1617' strain has been genomically sequenced in India, where researchers have found that it contains the E484Q and L452R mutations in its spike protein, which may help it evade the neutralising antibodies that fight Covid-19.

Danny Altmann, professor of immunology at Imperial College London, said the variant's apparent ability to escape antibodies could still spell trouble for the UK, where at least half the population has had either zero or only one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.

"We still have a very large vulnerable population who can still be caught out by variants like this," he told ITV's Good Morning Britain.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×