India to be added to UK travel red list

By Karim El-Bar

LONDON (AA) - India will be added to the UK's red list, denoting high travel risk amid the pandemic, the country's health secretary announced on Monday.

Starting at 4 a.m. (0400GMT) on Friday, travel from India to the UK will be banned for non-UK and Irish citizens, Matt Hancock said in parliament.

The decision came due to a new Indian variant of the novel coronavirus, of which 103 cases have been found in the UK so far.

Hancock told lawmakers in the House of Commons: "We've been analyzing samples from these cases to see if this variant has any concerning characteristics -- like greater transmissibility or resistance to treatments and vaccines -- meaning it has to be treated as a variant of concern."

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