No longer any reason for Maldives to be on UK’s red list: HC Farah
Reports indicate that Maldives will be among the few nations on the red list that are likely to turn amber at the next update
Maldives’ Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Dr. Farah Faizal
Maldives’ High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Dr. Farahanaz Faizal has stated that there is no longer a valid reason for the Maldives to be included in the UK's red list.
While Maldives is among the 60 nations that are currently on UK's red list, the country has three lists -green, amber and red- and each country has its own rules for arriving holidaymakers.
Health Protection Agency (HPA) had previously revealed that the reason Maldives is on UK's red list is because the country had not completed the Genomic Sequencing Test required to move up the list.
The Maldives high commissioner to UK revealed via Twitter on Saturday said that the international Covid-19 and other influenza virus database known as GISAID "has now been updated with Genome sequencing date as required by the UK".
Stressing that "there is no longer a valid reason for Maldives to remain on the red list," Farah also noted that the archipelago nation has low case numbers as well as extremely high vaccination rates compared to most countries.
While the high commissioner said this, reports indicate that Maldives will be among the few nations on the red list that are likely to turn amber at the next update, on August 25.
Being removed from the United Kingdom's red list will undoubtedly boost Maldives' tourist arrivals, as the country aims to welcome 1.3 million visitors this year. While the country saw 555,213 tourist arrivals in 2020, United Kingdom was in third in the tourism market with 19,686 visitors.
Maldives was recently removed from Abu Dhabi's green list as well.
