- France, the Netherlands, Monaco, Malta, Turks and Caicos Islands and Aruba removed from list of travel corridors for England following data showing a significant increase in COVID-19 risk, with passengers required to self-isolate when returning from these countries from 4am on Saturday 15 August
- travellers urged to check the latest advice from the FCO before travelling and ensure they have filled in a passenger locator form before returning home
- government continues to closely monitor increase in reported cases worldwide, and will keep all countries and territories under constant review
People arriving in England from France, the Netherlands, Monaco, Malta, Turks and Caicos Islands and Aruba from 4am Saturday 15 August 2020 will need to self-isolate for 2 weeks as the countries are removed from the travel exemptions list.
The Joint Biosecurity Centre and Public Health England have indicated a significant change in coronavirus (COVID-19) risk in all 6 destinations, leading to ministers removing these from the current list of travel corridors.
Data from France shows that over the past week (7 to 13 August) there has been a 66% increase in newly reported cases and a 52% increase in weekly incidence rate per 100,000 population, indicating a sharp rise in COVID-19.
There has been a consistent increase in newly reported cases in the Netherlands over the past 4 weeks, with a 52% increase in newly reported cases between 7 and 13 August. Over the past week, there has been a 273% increase in newly reported cases in the Turks and Caicos Islands and 1,106% increase in newly reported cases in Aruba. Malta has had a 105% increase in newly reported cases over the past 7 days.
At the same time, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has also updated its travel advice to advise against all but essential travel to France, Monaco, the Netherlands, Malta, Turks and Caicos Islands and Aruba.
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 France, the Netherlands, Monaco, Malta, Turks and Caicos Islands and Aruba are encouraged to follow the local rules and check the FCO travel advice pages on GOV.UK for
