05 November 2020

Germany and Sweden removed from travel corridors list

05 November 2020

Germany and Sweden have been removed from the Government’s list of travel corridors, the Department for Transport has said.

Travellers arriving in the UK from these countries after 4am on Saturday must self-isolate for 14 days.

The impact of the decision is limited due to existing coronavirus lockdown restrictions.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the quarantine requirement for international arrivals was “critical to the Government’s Covid-19 response, keeping imported cases down”.

He added that travel outside the home was “not permitted” during England’s national lockdown except for “a limited number of reasons including work or education”.

Germany’s seven-day rate of coronavirus cases per 100,000 people reached 140 after nearly 20,000 cases were reported on Wednesday.

The rate for Sweden is 190.

Figures have been calculated by the PA news agency based on data collected by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

The Government is believed to be using a rate of 100 as the threshold above which it considers triggering quarantine conditions. This is up from 20 in recent months.

The UK’s own rate is 235.

Mr Shapps has launched a taskforce to develop methods of reducing the 14-day self-isolation period for people arriving from non-exempt locations.

He said the Government was considering a “test and release regime” which would still involve a quarantine period of at least a week.

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