England puts United States on 'red-list', will quarantine arrivals

LONDON (Reuters) - Passengers arriving into England from the United States will not be exempted from quarantine rules, Britain's transport minister Grant Shapps said on Friday.

Asked whether the United States would be on a 'red-list' of countries to which a 14-day quarantine period will apply, Shapps said: "I'm afraid it will be."

"The U.S. from a very early stage banned flights from the UK and from Europe so there isn't a reciprocal arrangement in place," he told the BBC.

England is relaxing its quarantine rules for around 50 other countries.

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and Costas Pitas, writing by William James)