12 countries likely to be added to UK’s red list soon – including Belgium

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After Colombia, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Panama, Peru and Venezuela were removed from the red list on October 18, the red list has been empty.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, confirmed in his latest travel review last week that no countries or territories will be moved to the red list for now.

But Mr Shapps, who is also the MP for Hertfordshire's Welwyn Hatfield district, warned that the government was "prepared to add countries and territories back if needed,” which given the recent rise in cases across the globe may happen sooner rather than later.

After this, data analyst Tim White who has been following case figures around the world after the traffic light system began, named many countries that could end up on UK’s red list soon.

What are the 12 countries likely to be added to the red list?

Europe is currently a hotspot for the virus, according to the WHO, which means that many European countries could be entered into red list in the near future.

While Austria set to enter a full lockdown for 10 days from Monday, November 22 after a recent spike in cases, Germany hit a new record of 65,000 daily infections with Chancellor Angela Merkel confirming that the country is in the midst of a "dramatic" fourth wave.

White highlighted that Norway was seeing record case rates which hit an all-time high last week. With over 12,000 new cases in just 24 hours on Wednesday, Belgium is seeing a surge similar to Czech Republic’s daily cases which have risen by 50 per cent.

While Finland’s cases have risen 21% recently, Croatia has been experiencing an uptick in cases since late August. Seven-day averages are at an all-time high in Denmark, Iceland, the Netherlands and Slovakia as well.

White added that Slovenia, which had high seven-day averages only a week ago could rejoin these six countries any time.

Besides this, the US which recently opened up travel to UK citizens is also experience a surge in cases with White warning that there could be "big trouble ahead" for the nation this Christmas.

What countries have added UK to the red list?

While UK’s red list has been reduced to zero, some countries have recently put UK on their red list. On Wednesday, Morocco announced that because of rising cases in the UK, it would be banning flights from the country.

Besides UK, they also banned flights to and from Germany and Netherlands, with authorities saying the ban will stay in place "until further notice".

• Coronavirus
• Christmas

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