UK bans travel from South America and Portugal to block spread of Brazilian Covid strain

Brazilian in indigenous costume and face mask

Britain has banned travel from South America and Portugal to prevent the spread of a new highly-contagious strain of Covid from Brazil.

Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, said he was taking “urgent» action to stop the Brazilian variant reaching Britain.

Portugal and Cape Verde have been drawn into the ban because of their “strong” travel links with Brazil. The ban — takes effect from Friday at 4am — is wider than previously thought but British and Irish nationals and foreign residents in the UK will not be subject to the total block although they will have to quarantine for ten days on their arrival in the UK.  There is also an exemption for hauliers travelling from Portugal (only), to allow transport of essential goods.

The full list of countries is Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Cape Verde, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela.

Sir Patrick Vallance, the UK’s chief scientific adviser, has said it is possible that the Brazilian Covid variant could make vaccines less effective.

He said he thinks it is unlikely the mutated strain of the virus will have evolved to get past the immune system but “we don’t know for sure.”

The curbs, confirmed by the Covid O Cabinet sub-committee chaired by Michael Gove on Thursday, mirror the travel ban on South Africa where a similar highly transmissible strain of Covid has also emerged.

Boris Johnson admitted on Wednesday that officials were “concerned” about the variant and claimed the Government was “taking steps” to ensure it  did not spread in Britain. 

Brazil has already banned travellers from the UK, starting on December 25, because of the variant that emerged here. Airlines preempted the ban by scrapping five flights scheduled between Brazil and Heathrow,.

Public Health England (PHE) said it had not picked up any cases of the variant yet, but would not rule out its already being in Britain.

Professor Susan Hopkins, who is Strategic Response Director for Covid-19 with Public Health England, told BBC Breakfast that experts were looking at the Brazilian variant and needed to grow the virus in the UK in order to perform laboratory experiments.  

"So we need to understand the biology of these [new strains], as well as understanding mutations," she said.   "We will be watching them all to make sure that they can’t escape your immune response, which is the key thing that we’re looking at the moment."