The UK has put the US on its unsafe travel 'red list' because of the surge of coronavirus cases across America

Adam Payne

July 3, 2020 1:26 PM

The UK government puts the US on its new "red list" of countries judged to be unsafe for travel due to the coronavirus.

The UK will on Friday announce that arrivals from dozens of countries will no longer have to quarantine for 14 days as of July 10.
France, Spain, Italy, and Germany will be on the list. There are expected to be around 50 in total.
However, the US will be on the UK's "red list," UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has confirmed.
The daily number of new cases in the US hit a record high this week.
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The UK government has put the US on a "red list" of countries that will not be included in relaxed rules for international travel to be introduced next week.

As of Friday, July 10, arrivals from dozens of countries into the UK will no longer have to quarantine for 14 days, in the latest stage of the prime minister's plan for easing lockdown measures in Britain.

The full list is set to be published by the UK government today (Friday, July 3) and is expected to include around 50 countries, according to multiple reports.

Listed countries are set to be split into "green" and "amber," depending on the level of risk associated with COVID-19.

For example, New Zealand, which recently said it had eliminated the coronavirus, is expected to be on the green list.

The Department for Transport confirmed on Thursday that France, Spain, Germany, and Italy would be on the list.

However, the US has been put on a "red-list" of countries that are deemed too unsafe for British people to visit, UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps confirmed on Friday morning.

"I'm afraid it will be," Shapps told the BBC when asked whether the US would be red-listed.

"The US from a very early stage banned flights from the UK and from Europe so there isn't a reciprocal arrangement in place."

While most European countries have suppressed the coronavirus thanks to stringent national lockdowns lasting several weeks, the virus continues to spread in the US after the Trump administration started to re-open the economy at the beginning of May.

The US on Wednesday recorded its highest-ever number of daily new cases: 50,600.

Meanwhile, a number states that started to re-open their economies several weeks ago, like California, Florida, and Arizona, have re-imposed lockdown measures in response to a sharp increase in the number of new COVID-19 cases.

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