Croatia, Greece and Turkey could be next countries to join France on UK quarantine list
17 August 2020, 09:49
Holidays in Croatia, Turkey and Greece are now at risk, as Covid-19 cases in the popular holiday destinations continue to rise.
Three more popular holiday destinations could be set to follow Spain, France and the Netherlands onto the coronavirus quarantine list.
Removing the countries from the safe travel exemption would mean anyone returning to the UK would need to stay at home for 14 days.
Sunday saw Turkey record its highest number of Covid-19 cases since June as 1,256 people were confirmed positive and the death toll climbed by 21.
While in Croatia there have been 162 new infections over the last 24 hours, meaning it has passed the Downing Street's quarantine threshold of 20 cases per 100,000 people in a week.
Over the weekend Grant Shapps revealed that anything above 20 cases per 100,000 for a period of seven days or more will likely lead to a country being added to the quarantine list.
Holidaymakers spend £1,000 on early travel back from France to avoid quarantine
Greece is also one of the countries which could be next to have its travel corridor removed after EU figures showed the country's Covid-19 infection rate almost quadrupled in two weeks.
It now appears to be passing the key benchmark, hitting 21.2 per 1000,000 people in a fortnight, according to the latest figures.
The Government has refused to deny that Croatia and Greece could be added to the quarantine list.
A No 10 spokesman said: "We continue to keep these rules under constant review and we publish a list of the countries and territories that we are concerned about. You'll have seen the last update as of last week."
Asked whether Greece and its islands would count as one country for quarantine rule purposes, he added: "As I say, we will continue to keep data for all countries and territories under constant review. We update the list on a weekly basis."
Pushed on the limited time between new quarantine measures being announced and their implementation, the No 10 spokesman said: "We've always said that protecting public health remains our top priority, which is why it is important that when we make changes to the exemptions list we do so in a swift way.
"While these changes we understand can be disruptive, it is right that we take quick action to prevent cases being important into the UK."
Brian says the government "acted too late" on France quarantine rules
Last week France was added to the UK's quarantine list a move which saw tens of thousands of UK tourists in France make last-ditch bids to beat the quarantine, with tickets for planes, trains and ferries going for increased prices, with some airfares around six times more expensive than usual.
Travellers arriving from France after 4am on Saturday have been required to quarantine for 14 days due to fears over rising numbers of coronavirus cases in the country.
The move came after Boris Johnson said ministers would be “absolutely ruthless” in deciding on whether to impose the self-isolation requirement.
As well as France, the Netherlands, Monaco, Malta, Turks & Caicos and Aruba were all added to the UK's quarantine list last week as officials at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office continue to monitor he situation.
