Thailand and Singapore added to travel corridor exempt list for England

People arriving in England from Slovenia and Guadeloupe from 4am Saturday 19 September will need to self-isolate for 2 weeks as the countries are removed from the travel exemptions list.

Data from the Joint Biosecurity Centre and Public Health England has indicated a significant change in both the level and pace of confirmed cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) in both destinations, leading to ministers removing these from the current list of travel corridors.

Data from Slovenia shows that the weekly incidence (cases) per 100,000 has increased from 14.4 on 9 September to 29.1 on 16 September. This equates to a 102% increase. There has been a sharp increase in the weekly incidence (case) rate of COVID-19 in Guadeloupe over the past 4 weeks, with a 558% increase in weekly incidence (cases) per 100,000 between 25 August and 15 September.

Thailand and Singapore have been added to the government’s travel corridor list following a decrease in confirmed cases of coronavirus. From 4am Saturday 19 September 2020, passengers arriving to England from these destinations will no longer need to self-isolate, so long as they haven’t been in or transited through any other non-exempt countries in the 14 days preceding their arrival.

At the same time, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has updated its travel advice to advise against all but essential travel to Slovenia and Guadeloupe. Singapore and Thailand are already exempt from the FCDO’s global advisory against non-essential travel.

The government has made consistently clear it will take decisive action if necessary to contain the virus, including removing countries from the travel corridors list rapidly if the public health risk of people returning from a particular country without self-isolating becomes too high.

People currently in Slovenia and Guadeloupe are encouraged to follow the local rules and check the FCDO travel advice pages for further information. The government is urging employers to be understanding of those returning from these destinations who now will need to self-isolate.

COVID-19 has profoundly changed the nature of international travel. Travellers should always check the latest advice from the FCDO, given the potential for changing coronavirus infection rates to affect both the advice about travelling to other countries and rules about self-isolation on return.

All travellers, including those from exempt destinations, will still be required to show a complete passenger locator form on arrival into the UK unless they fall into a small group of exemptions. Border Force carry out spot checks, and travellers who refuse to provide their contact details, face a fine starting at £100.