Britain to roll out proposals on new Covid-19 travel restrictions ‘very shortly’ – cabinet office minister

The UK government will present new border control rules soon, Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove said. He expressed hope that the new lockdown may be eased in March.

Speaking to Sky News, Gove was asked if people arriving in the UK will be required to present a negative Covid-19 test.

“We’ll be coming forward very shortly with new proposals on how exactly we will make sure that our borders are safe,” the minister replied.

“But the message is very, very clear for UK citizens that they should not be travelling.”

Stay-at-home orders were issued across England and Scotland on Monday, similar to the nationwide lockdown in March. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the measures were prompted by a new variant of the coronavirus that was “between 50 and 70 percent more transmissible.”

Gove, meanwhile, expressed hope that the ongoing vaccination campaign will allow to “progressively” lift the restrictions.

“I think it’s right to say that as we enter March we should be able to lift some of these restrictions, but not necessarily all,” he said, while cautioning viewers that it was impossible to “predict with certainty” when that will happen.

Authorities began to inoculate people with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine on December 8. On Monday, the government approved the use of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine as well.

“We will be getting millions more AstraZeneca vaccines, and that will provide us the opportunity to vaccinate more and more people. The numbers will be increasing this week, next week, and the week after,” Gove said, adding that over a million people have received the vaccine in the UK.

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