Germany and Sweden are being added to the UK’s coronavirus quarantine list.
Travellers returning from both countries will have to isolate for 14 days.
The measure will come into force from 4am on Saturday, applying to people arriving in the UK.
No countries are being removed from the coronavirus quarantine list this week, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.
He tweeted: “Travel corridors do remain critical to the government’s COVID-19 response, keeping imported cases DOWN.”Advertisement
Ministers took the decision after a steep rise in cases in both countries, with the number of new infections in Germany increasing by 75% in the past four weeks and 34% in Sweden during the same period.Travel rules after England goes into second lockdown on Thursday
In Germany, there is currently a seven-day average infection rate of 140 per 100,000 people and in Sweden 190 per 100,000 people, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
The government is now thought to use a threshold of 100 cases per 100,000 as a trigger to impose travel quarantines, up from 20 in previous months.
The UK’s own weekly infection rate is above both Germany and Sweden’s at 235.
Last week, Cyprus and Lithuania were added to the UK’s ‘red’ list, but no countries were removed.
The new travel restrictions come on the first day of a second national lockdown in England, under which holidays both in the UK and abroad are not permitted.
People are only allowed to travel by plane for work purposes, with those found breaking the rules fined £200 for a first offence, increasing to a maximum of £6,400.
