UK drops self-isolation for passengers from Botswana, Saudi Arabia

A traveller arrives at London's Heathrow Airport wearing a face mask. /Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP

Botswana and Saudi Arabia were on Friday added to the U.K. government's travel corridor list after analysis of the COVID-19 situations in the countries.

"From 4am on Saturday 12 December 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," said a directive from the U.K. government.

Since the lockdown was lifted on 2 December, the government permitted non0-essential travel to some international destinations deemed low-risk.

These destinations make up the travel corridor list.

Travelers, including those from exempt destinations, will still however be required to provide a complete passenger locator form on arrival into the U.K.

By Friday afternoon, Botswana had reported 12,501 confirmed COVID-19 cases with 37 deaths.

Saudi Arabia on the other hand had registered 359,583 infections with 359,583 deaths.