Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the UK would close all travel corridors from Monday to prevent the country from new strains of Covid-19 to the UK.

Speaking at the government's coronavirus press conference on 15 January, Johnson said: “Yesterday we announced we were banning flights from South America and Portugal...And to protect us against the risk of as yet unidentified new strains, we will also temporarily close all travel corridors from 0400 hours on Monday.”