Coronavirus: UK weekly rate of new cases passes 20 per 100,000 people
7 September 2020, 17:49 | Updated: 7 September 2020, 18:16
The UK's weekly rate of new coronavirus infections has risen above 20 per 100,000 people, the figure the government uses to consider introducing quarantine measures on people arriving from overseas.
In the week up to to 7 September, there were 21.3 new infections per 100,000 people, an increase on the 13.9 per 100,000 for the seven days up to 31 August.
The UK Government considers imposing self-isolation conditions on people returning from other countries when they see their rate of new infections rise above 20 per 100,000.
An increasing number of new positive cases of Covid-19 being reported over the past few days has driven the jump in Britain's rate.
Some 14,227 new cases were reported in the seven days up to 7 September, according to the latest figures from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).
Read more: Seven Greek islands placed on travel quarantine list from Wednesday
Read more: England will target specific islands in future quarantine lists
"We're going to have another mad dash back to the UK"
This includes 2,988 for the 24 hours up to 9am 6 September, and a further 2,948 for the 24 hours up to 9am 7 September - a total of nearly 6,000 in the space of 48 hours.
In the previous seven days to 31 August, 9,259 new cases were reported.
Meanwhile, Spain has become the first European country to record half a million cases of coronavirus, with its tally now standing at 525,549.
Of those, 49,716 were recorded in the past week, along with 237 deaths, while a third of the new infections are in Madrid which has been the region hit hardest by the pandemic.
Read more: Portugal and Greece remain on England's travel corridor list
Read more: Which countries are exempt and could future changes affect my booking?
Grant Shapps warns travellers more quarantines will be introduced
It comes after Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced that future quarantine lists for people returning to England from overseas will target specific islands rather than whole countries.
He said due to collaboration with other governments, England could now adopt a more "granular" approach to future quarantine lists, meaning a more targeted approach will be introduced.
Following this, Mr Shapps said seven Greek islands will be added to England's quarantine list from 4am on Wednesday.
These will include Lesvos, Tinos, Serifos, Mykonos, Crete, Santorini and Zakynthos.
However, mainland Greece will remain on England's safe travel corridor list meaning people returning from the country will still not have to self-isolate for 14 days when they get home.
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