Covid-19: Bahrain removes India and Pakistan from red list, adds Slovenia, Bosnia and more

Travel to the kingdom is suspended from 26 destinations on the expanded list

A passenger at Bahrain International Airport. The kingdom has updated its red list of countries from where travel is suspended. AFP

Bahrain has changed its red list from where travellers are suspended from entering the kingdom.

Bahrain has removed India, Pakistan, the Dominican Republic and Panama from its red list for travel.

It has also added several destinations to the list that prohibits entry. These include Bosnia and Herzegovina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Ethiopia and Slovenia.

This means entry is prohibited to anyone flying to the kingdom from these destinations. However, some exemptions are in place for citizens and residency holders.

Bahrain's Civil Aviation Affairs has updated the country's travel red list in line with government directives. The expansion means there are now 26 destinations on the list from where travel is suspended.

Passengers arriving from, or who have transited through, any of the destinations on the red list in the preceding 14 days cannot enter Bahrain, unless they are Bahraini residents or GCC citizens.

All of the destinations on Bahrain’s red list

1. Georgia

2. Ukraine

3. Malawi

4. Mozambique

5. Myanmar

6. Zimbabwe

7. Mongolia

8. Namibia

9. Mexico

10. Tunisia

11. Iran

12. South Africa

13. Indonesia

14. Iraq

15. Philippines

16. Ethiopia

17. Malaysia

18. Uganda

19. Costa Rica

20. Bosnia and Herzegovina

21. Slovenia

22. Sri Lanka

23. Bangladesh

24. Nepal

25. Vietnam

26. Ecuador

Bahrain has recently had its own red list ranking from UK authorities upgraded.

Along with the UAE, Qatar and India, the kingdom was moved to the UK’s amber list on August 8, meaning that travellers flying from Bahrain to Britain no longer need to quarantine in a hotel.

Self-quarantine is still necessary for 10 days for most travellers from Bahrain, as the UK does not currently recognise vaccines issued outside of the UK, Europe and the US.

Passengers flying to and staying in England can use the government’s test-to-release system to end their quarantine after receiving a negative result from an additional PCR test taken on day five.

Gulf Air resumes double daily flights to London Heathrow

To coincide with Bahrain’s move to the UK's amber list, Gulf Air – the national airline of the kingdom – resumed direct flights from Manama to London Heathrow. The airline has been flying to the UK capital for more than 50 years.

Commenting on restoring double daily passenger flights to London, Gulf Air’s acting chief executive Capt Waleed Al Alwai said: “London is one of our main destinations in western Europe and we’ve been connecting both kingdoms since 1970. It has also been a destination that we maintained scheduled operations to throughout 2020.

“Gulf Air is known for its morning and night flights to and from London and we’re happy to bring these back to offer more flexibility and convenience to our passengers.”