Male’, Maldives – High Commissioner of Maldives to the United Kingdom, Dr. Farah Faizal this Saturday stated that there is no longer a valid reason for Maldives to remain on the UK red list.
Dr. Farah tweeted that the GISAID website has been updated with Genome sequencing data as required by the UK and even noted that the number of active cases in Maldives was considerably low at present, with an extremely high vaccine rate compared to most of the countries.
I believe there is no longer a valid reason for Maldives to remain on the red list.
High Commissioner of Maldives to the UK, Dr. Farah Faizal
The HEOC earlier informed that the Maldives remains on the UK travel red list due to the inability to meet the genomic sequence testing requirement to determine the Covid-19 variants present in the country. However, as the GISAID website has been updated with the required information, Dr. Farah stated that there is no valid reason for Maldives to remain on the red list of UK.
The UK travel lists are based on a four stage process.
The first stage itself determines the variants, since variants indicate the transmissibility, how ill people are and resistance to vaccines or vaccine immunity.
Secondly, the countries are ‘triaged’, or assessed more closely based on set standards.
Lastly, the evaluations are conferred to ministers who take into account the vaccination information, travel routes and other information before making a decision.
Currently, UK categorizes countries based on the pandemic situation with green, amber and red lists.
Travellers from the red list countries, including Maldives, will need to quarantine for 10 days in the UK, and undergo Covid-19 testing on the 2nd and 8th days. There will also be a surge in the costs starting 12 August for people over 13 years of age. Arrangements may be made for individuals who cannot afford to pay for facilities.
At present, Maldives has procured enough vaccine doses to inoculate the entire eligible population with two doses. While 364,847 residents have administered the first dose, 298,418 residents have completed their Covid-19 doses, according to HPA.
