UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced all travel corridors will be closed from Monday, ending the quarantine exemption for arrivals from selected nations.

The announcement comes after it was confirmed that a new variant of COVID-19, which emerged in Brazil, had been discovered in the UK.

The new policy would come to effect from 4 am on Monday, meaning that arrivals from every destination will need to self-isolate for 10 days, or receive a negative result from a coronavirus test taken at least five days after they enter the UK.

It had already been announced that travellers arriving in England and Scotland from Monday will need to have a negative test taken up to 72 hours before leaving the country of departure.

Boris Johnson told the Downing Street press conference: “It’s precisely because we have the hope of that vaccine and the risk of new strains coming from overseas that we must take additional steps now to stop those strains from entering the country.

“Yesterday we announced that we’re banning flights from South America and Portugal and to protect us against the risk from as-yet-unidentified strains we will also temporarily close all travel corridors from 0400 on Monday.

“Following conversations with the devolved administrations we will act together so this applies across the whole of the UK,” he said.

The government announced the official toll in the UK now sits at 88,590 fatalities within 28 days of a positive test, but the true toll is more than 104,000 when death certificates mentioning Covid-19 are included.