A minister in the British government has admitted that the United Kingdom (UK) is likely to end up in a complete lockdown if the coronavirus (COVID-19) mutants spread and the outbreak is difficult to contain, according to The Sun.
Meanwhile, British authorities are preparing to announce a relaxation of international travel rules, and one of the key decisions will be whether to continue to insist that British tourists take PCR tests before entering the kingdom.
Earlier this month, WHO officially put the world on red alert about the new strain of COVID-19 which is called the "Mu" variant, which originated in Colombia and has spread throughout South America.
British Environment Minister George Eustis noted that ministers and health officials will need to strike a balance between helping the travel industry and keeping out the Coronavirus booms that could plunge the country back into lockdown.
“Arguably the biggest threat to the travel industry is that we get another evasive variant that is able to circumvent the vaccine, which the vaccine cannot handle, and then we find ourselves in another complete shutdown — which is not what we want,” Eustis said.
"That's why we've taken this with caution, step by step because we want every step we take to be irreversible," he added.
Under current rules, people coming from Green List countries must take a lateral flow test for Covid shortly before their return and submit a PCR test two days later in the UK.
The number of countries on the new red list will reportedly be halved, but hotel quarantines will remain a strict requirement for people coming from them.
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