Turkey and Poland added to England's travel quarantine list
1 October 2020, 17:08 | Updated: 1 October 2020, 17:38
Turkey and Poland are among the countries which have been added to England's travel quarantine list, meaning anyone arriving after 4am on Saturday will have to self-isolate.
The Caribbean islands of Bonaire, St Eustatius and Saba have also been removed from the travel corridor list after a rise in coronavirus cases.
In a tweet, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: "The latest data indicates we need to remove Turkey, Poland, and Bonaire, St Eustatius and Saba from the #TravelCorridor list this week.
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"This means if you arrive from these destinations from 4am Saturday 3 October, you will need to self-isolate."
He also added that the penalties for people who refuse to self-isolate are to be increased to a maximum of £10,000 for repeat offenders.
TRAVEL CORRIDOR UPDATE: The latest data indicates we need to remove Turkey, Poland, and Bonaire, St Eustatius and Saba from the #TravelCorridor list this week.
— Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP (@grantshapps) October 1, 2020
This means if you arrive from these destinations from 4am Saturday 3 October, you will need to self-isolate.
The seven-day rate of new coronavirus cases per 100,000 people in Poland is now at 25.9, increasing from 15.6 in the previous week.
Bonaire, Saint Eustatius and Saba also reported 142.4 new cases per 100,000, unchanged from 142.4 in the previous week.
Meanwhile, Turkey's rate has dropped to 12.9 cases, down from 14.2 in the week prior.
But Mr Shapps said the Turkish Health Ministry has been "defining the number of new COVID-19 cases in a different way to the definition used by international organisations such as WHO and ECDC," leading to the change in policy.
A seven-day rate of 20 new cases per 100,000 people is the threshold above which the UK Government considers triggering quarantine conditions.
The countries have all also been removed from the Scottish Government's list of travel corridors, Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf has said.
Scotland will also align with other UK nations and add Madeira and the Azores to the list of destinations now exempt from quarantine requirement, he added.
Despite Italy's weekly rate increasing to 20.4 cases, up from 18.4, it was not mentioned in the announcement.
Last Thursday Mr Shapps announced that passengers returning from Denmark, Iceland, Slovakia and the Caribbean island of Curacao would also have to self-isolate on their return.
