UK govt faces heat for delay in adding India to ‘red list’

Downing Street said it had taken a “precautionary action” to ban travel from India on April 23, six days before the B1.617 variant was put under investigation and two weeks before its highly transmissible subtype, B1.617.2, was labelled a Variant of Concern (VOC).

According to latest Public Health England data, around 20,000 people travelled between India and the UK before the red list ban and around 122 of them arriving from Delhi and Mumbai between late March and April 26 were detected with the VOC. “Prior to India being placed on the red list in April, anyone coming to the UK had to test negative and quarantine for 10 days,” a UK government spokesperson said.

However, the Opposition Labour Party attacked the government for a delay in acting when the variant first emerged at the end of March. “This was not inevitable. They should have put India on the red list. We’ve had this three-week period in which thousands of people have returned from India,” said Yvette Cooper, senior Labour MP and Chair of the Commons Home Affairs Committee.