109 countries on the quarantine list have lower Covid rates than the UK
More than 100 countries on the UK’s “high-risk” travel list now have a lower Covid infection rate than Britain.
The seven-day case rate for the UK, as of December 16, stands at 207.4 per 100,000 residents – lower than the US (470.6 per 100,000) and 27 European nations (including Croatia, Denmark and Portugal), but higher than the vast majority of the world.
Nevertheless, of the 149 countries beneath the UK in the Covid table, only 40 have been granted a travel corridor permitting Britons to visit without a 10-day quarantine when they return.
Not all of the 109 snubbed destinations (see below for the full list) are open to British tourists, but many are. This includes the likes of Egypt, where the seven-day infection rate is just 3.4 per 100,000, Kenya, where it’s a lowly 6.5, Jamaica (20.6), Mexico (58.4) and South Africa (89.6).
The reticence to grant more travel corridors – just two were announced last week, to Botswana and Saudi Arabia – is a source of growing exasperation for tour operators, who cannot offer trips against Foreign Office (FCDO) advice to non-travel corridor countries.
“Travel corridors definitely need expanding,” said Noel Josephides, Director of Industry Affairs at AITO, which represents scores of independent tour operators. “If countries with lower Covid rates than the UK are happy to accept British visitors, it seems unreasonable that travel to these destinations is not made feasible immediately. We don’t see why this should present any risk whatsoever to the UK.”
Indeed, the latest ONS data shows that travelling abroad does not increase the risk of catching the virus, while many destinations now require overseas visitors to take a test before they arrive.
Three African countries – Namibia, Rwanda and Botswana – were added to the travel corridor list in recent weeks, but many others have vanishingly small case rates and are still being ignored.
Furthermore, Namibia and Botswana cannot be reached without a transfer in a non-corridor country, so quarantine-free trips are impossible.
Candice Buchan of Africa specialist Rainbow Tours, said: “South Africa and Kenya really need to be added to the green list because they are the regional hubs to Southern and Eastern Africa respectively. The lack of corridors is also overwhelming capacity in the few places we can actually visit. There were huge numbers booking to Europe in the summer whenever a country was put on the safe list and we are seeing it happen in Dubai now, too.”
Liddy Pleasants, Managing Director of family travel specialist Stubborn Mule, added: “We are completely baffled by the FCDO’s continued reluctance to open travel corridors with countries that have considerably lower incidences of Covid than we do in the UK. Of course we understand that there are many factors that have to be considered, including reliability of reporting, availability of good quality health care locally, and so on. We also understand that it is counter-productive to open corridors where there is a risk of another wave, as this can make the situation even more difficult for the travel industry. However, there are a number of countries with excellent health care systems and persistently low rates that should be added to the corridor list. Oman is a good example.”
The current situation threatens to put dozens of travel firms, which employ hundreds of thousands of Britons, out of business, but is also pushing millions of people in developing countries closer to poverty. As part of The Telegraph’s Unlock Long Haul campaign, we’ve been highlighting the dire problems facing residents in tourism-reliant destinations such as Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. All three have far lower Covid infection rates than the UK (21.1, 38.2 and 14.9, respectively), and are welcoming tourists, but are not on the green list.
A lack of testing has been used to explain why some countries are being snubbed by the Government. Yet there are many discrepancies. According to Our World in Data, South Africa has carried out almost 100 tests per 1,000 people since the start of the pandemic, but doesn’t have a travel corridor, while Japan and South Korea, which have done just 30 per 1,000 and 66 per 1,000, respectively, do. Similarly, overlooked Colombia (108), India (114), Argentina (79) and Morocco (112) have tested considerably more people than many countries on the green list.
The Government’s reticence to add new corridors has not been matched by a shyness when it comes to removing them. Last week the Canary Islands were ditched, causing consternation among travellers due to visit, but its case rate currently stands at just 60.4 per 100,000. Lanzarote, one of four islands in the archipelago with a direct flight from the UK, recorded just three new cases yesterday, as did Fuerteventura.
As things stand there are just 23 destinations on the travel corridor list that are actually welcoming UK holidaymakers.
The 109 red-listed countries with a lower case rate than Britain
Albania 194.1127054 per 100,000
Germany 193.1713663
Bosnia and Herzegovina 189.8054983
Poland 187.6480375
Italy 187.2904138
Kosovo 180.0249282
Jordan 179.7205728
Ukraine 177.2804564
Belgium 145.2976816
Lebanon 142.2413006
Belarus 141.8708738
Brazil 140.84878
Costa Rica 133.3349068
Russia 131.6137642
Canada 129.7773466
Spain 128.1660853
Malta 124.9146899
France 122.1516144
Colombia 120.9216317
South Africa 89.63367742
Paraguay 85.27802548
Greece 77.62171611 (five islands, including Crete, are on the green list)
Monaco 77.55545215
Argentina 74.84744969
Iran 74.66601363
Tunisia 67.40910061
Libya 60.35725927
Mexico 58.42344054
Dominican Republic 58.03052837
Cabo Verde 54.61898203
Morocco 54.2089017
Kuwait 43.74824312
Peru 38.19407366
Guyana 35.42985659
Mauritania 35.31427089
Kyrgyzstan 35.14994142
Kazakhstan 33.83033042
Bahamas 30.85779483
Eswatini 30.71666648
Honduras 30.61270681
Oman 28.86437327
El Salvador 24.62331468
Nepal 24.22041884
Iraq 24.00243537
Ecuador 21.09532129
Guatemala 20.92439926
Jamaica 20.58023309
Burma 16.62309961
Indonesia 15.91065287
India 14.96321212
Bolivia 14.86813078
Uganda 11.62835905
Venezuela 11.15683493
Suriname 9.722374134
Pakistan 9.455974914
Algeria 8.641098157
Trinidad and Tobago 8.490075965
Philippines 8.489298486
Congo (Brazzaville) 8.123007503
Bangladesh 7.600583205
Lesotho 7.447351494
Kenya 6.535908288
Syria 5.157845755
Burkina Faso 4.986954178
Sudan 4.41132147
Zimbabwe 4.224664032
Senegal 3.910596202
Djibouti 3.649939515
Gabon 3.444574206
Egypt 3.38130303
Ghana 3.345975027
Afghanistan 3.325048868
Uzbekistan 3.140608216
Ethiopia 2.999325454
Tajikistan 2.922808089
Zambia 2.679833853
Cameroon 2.407179152
Sao Tome and Principe 2.36935383
Mali 2.285391995
Mozambique 2.268107072
Equatorial Guinea 2.215475632
Togo 2.066143463
Angola 2.054543622
Nigeria 2.009957997
Eritrea 1.929077167
Haiti 1.780067132
Liberia 1.680854671
Niger 1.666447741
Guinea 1.554656486
Comoros 1.321603898
Cote d'Ivoire 1.045105934
Congo (Kinshasa) 1.007516633
Nicaragua 0.7578671638
Papua New Guinea 0.4763943132
The Gambia 0.4385768707
Madagascar 0.4340811918
South Sudan 0.3735449967
Somalia 0.3598044103
Chad 0.3553487842
Sierra Leone 0.3006475425
Central African Republic 0.1928691145
Burundi 0.1700166205
Guinea-Bissau 0.1600589871
Malawi 0.159838486
Benin 0.1480185368
Taiwan 0.1009251472
China 0.05421007661
Laos 0.02832256627
Yemen 0.02105360152
