Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if the Government will urgently review the status of South Africa on its traffic light covid-19 travel list.
At the most recent review on 26 August, it was decided that South Africa would remain on the red list as South Africa continues to present a high public health risk to the UK from variants of concern.
All classification changes have been decided by ministers, informed by the latest data and analysis by the Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC) and wider public health considerations. The country allocations are reviewed on a regular basis and the Government will not hesitate to take action where a country’s epidemiological picture changes.