Travel from several southern African countries will be halted over the emergence of a new strain of Covid.
UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid said six countries will be added to the red list, with flights initially banned.
These are from South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho and Eswatini.
There have been a few dozen cases of the variant B.1.1.529, described as ‘the worst one we’ve seen so far.’
There are fears it is vaccine resistant, although little is still known about it.
Confirmed cases have been found in South Africa, Hong Kong and Botswana but none yet in the UK.
Javid says experts are ‘deeply concerned’ about it.
"It may well be more transmissible and the current vaccines that we have may well be less effective," Javid said.
From 12:00 on Friday foreign travellers will be banned from entering England if they have been in the six countries during the last 10 days.
Nigel Vere Nicoll, President of ATTA said the announcement is a ‘complete hammer blow’ for tour operators and the African tourism industry.
"While the safety of all concerned must be considered, it is heart-breaking that this has happened to an industry that is grappling to get back on their feet after the past 20 months."
