In the past couple of days, and it has only been clear overnight, the UK Government has asked people in a number of areas of the UK to observe extra restrictions – for example travelling only for essential reasons. The areas are where there has been a surge in cases in recent days related to the ‘India’ variant of COVID.

So how does it impact Heathrow?

Well, Heathrow is in the London Borough of Hillingdon and Hounslow is one of the areas identified by the Government as being placed under these additional restrictions. Hounslow is right next to Heathrow and you travel through it by Tube, Road and Rail.

There appears to have been very little publicity about the changes to these areas and local politicians seem not to have been informed , with the announcement just being dumped on the government web site.

The restrictions include:

• Meet outside, not inside
• Not to travel in or out of the area, unless for work (which cannot be done from home) or for education
• Keep 2m apart unless in a support bubble
• Get tested twice per week and isolate if testing positive
• Continue to work from home
• Get vaccinated

The full list of areas covered by these new rules:

Hounslow, Bedford, Blackburn with Darwen, Bolton, Burnley, Kirklees, Leicester and North Tyneside.