Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what criteria the Government used to determine why (a) Ethiopia, (b) Kenya, and (c) Nigeria are not included in the red list for travel for hotel quarantine.

The criteria used to place travel bans on particular countries is based on the latest scientific and medical data, which show an increased risk to UK public health and an increased risk of community transmission of new COVID-19 variants identified. These are temporary measures and the government keeps data for countries and territories under constant review.

The government has made it consistently clear that it will take decisive action if the public health risk of people returning from a particular country without self-isolating becomes too high.

This list of countries with a travel ban remains under review, and the government will not hesitate to impose additional restrictions if the scientific and medical data from countries and territories change.