Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced the tightening of covid-19 restrictions in response to the new Omicron variant, in a press briefing this evening.
This comes as a response to the discovery of two cases of the new variant in the UK, in Nottingham and Essex.
Johnson has announced that all arrivals to the UK will now have to take a PCR test and self-isolate until a negative result, posing concerns for students who are studying abroad currently and will be coming back to the UK for Christmas in just a few weeks.
As well as this, Johnson has added four new countries to the red travel list, these are: Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia and Angola. This follows the suspension of all commercial flights from South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia and Zimbabwe on Friday 26th November.
These new restrictions come just a few weeks prior to the end of term for many Universities across the UK, raising concerns surrounding travel for international students.
Johnson affirmed that: “I want to stress that we’re not going to stop people travelling”, however the tightening of restrictions surrounding travel raises questions concerning the safe travel of international students to their home countries for Christmas.
Additionally, the PM has announced that anyone who has come into contact with the new variant must self isolate for 10 days, regardless of their vaccination status. He said: “we need to slow down the spread of this variant here in the UK, because measures at the border can only ever minimise and delay the arrival of a new variant.”
As well as further travel restrictions, rules surrounding face coverings are once again changing. Face coverings are to become mandatory in shops and transport across England, although the government is yet to set out restrictions regarding face coverings in University settings.
Since the relaxing of all restrictions on July 19th, the wearing of face coverings has decreased significantly yet in most universities across the UK, students are still expected to wear them on campus. The PM has not set out any concrete rules for higher education as of yet.
Ending his press briefing, Boris Johnson assured that these new measures are “temporary and precautionary” and will be reassessed after three weeks.
