UK to put India on 'red list' from Friday

While announcing, the UK health minister said scientists were working to see if the variant has any “concerning characteristics” such as being more transmissible or resistant to vaccines, but the move had been taken on a “precautionary basis”.

He said 103 cases of the Indian variant have now been found in the UK. At the end of last week, the figure was 77.

“We’ve recently seen a new variant first identified in India. We’ve now detected 103 cases of this variant, of which again the vast majority have links to international travel and have been picked up by our testing at the border,” he thought.

This means anyone who is not the UK or an Irish resident or a British citizen cannot enter the UK if they’ve been in India in the previous 10 days.

UK and Irish residents and British citizens who have been in India in the past 10 days before their arrival will need to complete hotel quarantine for 10 days from the time of arrival.

The secretary while concluding said, “India is a country I know well and love. Between our two countries, we have ties of friendship and family. I understand the impact of this decision but I hope the House will concur that we must act.”

India reported 273,810 coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases on Monday, the highest single-day spike so far since the pandemic broke out. With this, India's Covid tally has shot up to 15,061,919 cases. India also reported the highest-ever single-day spike in Covid-related deaths with 1,625 fatalities. The death toll from the deadly infection stands at 178,793.

Earlier, UK PM Boris Johnson said it was "only sensible" to cancel his trip to India, due to take place next Monday. The PM said he would instead speak to his counterpart Narendra Modi online. The trip - aimed at boosting trade and investment ties - had originally been due to take place in January but was called off because of the UK lockdown. The second cancellation comes as a Covid variant is spreading in India.