source photo: Wall Street Journal

By Kabakura Jean Bosco Ceusi

The United Kingdom has added Uganda to its travel ban red list, to prevent the spread of new Covid-19 variants that have since wrecked havoc in Uganda and other parts of the world.

A UK government statement on Thursday said the decision was reached  following a review of the latest scientific evidence pertaining to the risk of community transmission of Covid-19 variants. Pursuant to this decision, only British , Irish  and Third country nationals with residence rights in the UK who have departed from or transited Uganda within 10 days prior to their arrival in the UK will be required to quarantine for 10 days in a government approved facility.

The statement also notes that the measures are temporary and will be kept under review.  “The travel restrictions will only remain in place whilst the level of risks assessed remains the same and  justifies these measures. The statement further reads that « several countries have been removed from the quarantine list as a result of measures introduced to mitigate the risk posed by Covid-19 variant of concern, including increased genomic surveillance to reduce the risk posed by the variant .

Travel restrictions take effect on Tuesday June 29, 2021. This comes  at a time when Uganda is battling the second wave of the pandemic that struck in March  2020 and has since registered  75,537 cases and snatched 781 lives according to latest records from the Ministry of Health.

Earlier this year, the UK has  also red listed several other countries including, among others, South Africa, the UAE, Burundi and Rwanda  in a bid to prevent the spread of new Covid-19 variants .