What do I need to know before I travel?
Public Health Scotland logo

Fit for Travel Logo

Information on how to stay safe and healthy abroad. About us.

Country Specific Risk of Coronavirus (COVID-19) (Update 34)

30 Apr 2021

New ‘variants’ of coronavirus have been detected around the world. Some of these, including the UK variant, spread the virus more easily between people. Travel restrictions and self-isolation (quarantine) rules remain in place to

  • protect the health of the people living in the UK
  • avoid new variants being brought into the UK
  • avoid travellers exporting variants during international travel

Restrictions are beginning to ease with different timetables across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Currently, you need a permitted reason to travel abroad. It remains illegal to travel abroad for holidays.

See the UK government’s guidance for British people travelling abroad during the coronavirus pandemic for further information.

Before booking any permitted travel

You should review the COVID-19: Health Considerations for Travel page for information on how to reduce your risk of exposure to coronavirus before, during and after any planned travel.

You should also review the Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) foreign travel advice regularly for country-specific guidance on both coronavirus and other non-coronavirus risks such as safety and security, entry requirements and travel warnings.

Country Specific COVID-19 Risk

Each fitfortravel country page includes a COVID-19 country specific risk-rating which identifies the country as having a high, moderate or low risk of exposure to COVID-19 for UK travellers.

  • This risk rating can be found under the ‘Alerts’ section on each country page and is accompanied by appropriate travel advice.

In April 2021, the COVID-19 risk for UK travellers was decreased in 8 countries:

  • Gibraltar
  • Norway
  • Falkland Islands
  • Antigua and Barbuda
  • Barbados
  • St Lucia
  • Turks and Caicos Islands
  • US Virgin Islands

In April 2021, the COVID-19 risk for UK travellers was increased in 7 countries:

  • See the news alerts on individual countries for further details.

Be aware that the COVID-19 risk rating in each country is being kept under constant review and that travel advice may change at short notice.

Before arriving in, or returning to the UK

You must:

If you will be arriving from, or been in a 'red list' travel ban country in the last 10 days, then your quarantine must take place in a managed quarantine hotel.

Different rules apply in each of the UK 4 nation countries, therefore you must make sure you are able to comply with the rules for the UK nation you will be arriving in and also live in (if these are different).