Saudi Gazette report

JEDDAH — Travelers from Saudi Arabia will continue to have unrestricted entry into the United Kingdom as two more Gulf countries have been added to the UK’s coronavirus “red list”.

On Monday, the UK government updated its “red list” after taking into account the global developments with regard to the coronavirus pandemic.

The updated “red list”, which will come into effect on March 19 at 4 a.m. (local time), included Oman and Qatar along with two African countries, namely Ethiopia and Somalia, while Portugal and Mauritius have been removed from the list.

The United Arab Emirates is already on the “red list.”

According to the government guidelines, visitors coming from destinations on the “red list’ are not allowed to enter the UK while British or Irish citizens or those with residence rights in the country must quarantine themselves in a government-approved hotel for 10 days.

“With over 24 million vaccinations delivered in the UK so far, the move will help to reduce the risk of new variants — such as those first identified in South Africa and Brazil — entering England,” the UK government said in a press statement.