If you are looking to travel to UK, US or France, these are the restrictions you need to know

• India’s daily COVID-19 cases nearly doubled in the last three days.
• Hong Kong has decided to ban all travel from 8 countries, including India.
• The UK, on the other hand, has eased its travel restrictions to invite more travellers.

While some researchers say that Omicron is the milder variant of COVID-19, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that it could still pose “very high” risk and overwhelm healthcare systems across the globe. The United Nations’ health agency later added that Omicron, even though mild, is not a common cold and should be taken seriously.

Countries like the United States of America (USA), United Kingdom, Spain, Italy and France are facing the brunt of this new COVID-19 variant and are, therefore, imposing new regulations to do as much damage control.

A quick glance at the COVID-19 cases tally shows that the infections in the USA spiked nearly 1.6 times in the last three days, whereas cases in India more than doubled. France, on the other hand, went from reporting 67,000 cases to 3.32 lakh cases between January 3 and January 5.

Country	Cases on Jan 3	Cases on Jan 5
USA	4,26,051	7,04,661
UK	1,57,758	1,94,747
Spain	93,190+	1,37,180
Italy	68,052+	1,89,109
France	67,461+	3,32,252
Turkey	44,869+	66,467
Argentine	44,396+	95,159
India	37,379+	90,928

Source: Worldometers

It's easier to travel to the UK than the US

The US — while it has now lifted all the travel restrictions imposed on South African countries — has decided to only allow vaccinated people into the country. All international travellers, including people travelling from India, are now required to get tested within one day of boarding a flight.

Instead of making travel tougher, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has decided to do away with pre-arrival COVID-19 tests for overseas traveller. This means, a person would not need a negative COVID-19 test in order to travel to the UK.

The British government is also lifting the requirement for international travellers, including those flying from India, to self-isolate on arrival in England until receiving a negative PCR test result.

Hong Kong bans flights from India, Singapore suspends quarantine free travel

Hong Kong has banned all flights coming from 8 countries — including India, France, Pakistan, France, Australia, Canada, the Philippines, UK and US — as it is fearing the absolute worst. The country had reported 38 cases on January 5.

Singapore has suspended all quarantine-free travel in order to curb the spread of COVID-19 variants. Overseas travelers must take a PCR test upon travel as well as a daily rapid antigen test for the first week in Singapore.

Germany relaxes entry restrictions for UK travellers, France bans non-essential travel

Germany is opening up to international travellers from the UK once again, two weeks after imposing a ban on all travellers coming from the country. Germany has now downgraded UK’s COVID status to ‘high risk’. Unvaccinated travellers are subjected to 10-day quarantine, while vaccinated people do not need to quarantine.

France has also banned all non-essential trips regardless of the person’s vaccination status. Only French nationals as well as residents of France can travel to the country. The French Interior Ministry has also confirmed that British citizens living in the European Union are allowed to travel through France to return to their homes from the UK.

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