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Matt Hancock told the House of Commons this morning that the government is “watching” for variants of the virus and is considering all travel options.
“We introduced very important measures last week to close the travel corridors and we are keeping an eye on what we have to do to protect ourselves from new variants coming from abroad,” he said.
“The new variants change this question, because it is not just about ensuring that we do not receive additional cases from abroad. If a country has a lower case rate than us, there is no more risk than the people who stay here in this country. .
“It’s about making sure no new variants arrive that might not be treated as effectively by the vaccine, and preventing them from arriving. So that’s something that, of course, we keep under very close review.”
Meanwhile, EU countries could introduce travel bans under plans being considered Thursday to combat the spread of new strains of the Covid-19 virus.
The European Council will meet on Thursday evening to discuss proposals put forward by German Chancellor Angela Merkel that would allow countries to introduce bans on all forms of transport for citizens of EU countries and those outside the EU, including the UK.
Ms Merkel wants the EU to adopt a coordinated response to the threat posed by the emergence of new highly infectious Covid variants, one of which emerged in the UK, with others from Brazil and South Africa.
On Wednesday evening, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced that flights and ferries from the UK will be banned from Saturday, with the same restrictions imposed on South Africa and South American countries.
Under the German proposals, the EU would ban all non-EU passengers, including British ones, unless they have a negative Covid test result less than 48 hours before departure. There would only be “strictly defined” quarantine exceptions for people working in the passenger or freight transport sector and healthcare workers.
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