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British travelers may have to self-quarantine again when they return from Portugal amid a spike in their Covid-19 cases, just over a week after the country was added to the Kingdom’s safe travel list. United.
There were 21.1 cases of coronavirus per 100,000 people in Portugal in the seven days to August 30, compared to 19.4 for the seven days to August 29.
That is above the seven-day rate threshold of 20 per 100,000, above which the UK government considers triggering quarantine conditions that require returnees to isolate themselves for 14 days.
A decision is not expected until Thursday at the earliest and exceeding the figure does not automatically trigger the imposition of quarantine restrictions.
A source from the Department of Transportation said: “Decisions on which countries to add or remove from the list are based on the joint coronavirus risk assessment of the biosafety center, which is based on a number of factors, including the continued increase in coronavirus within a country and the number of new cases and the potential trajectory of the disease in the coming weeks. “
The list of travel brokers is reviewed every Thursday, before the weekend the revised conditions take effect. The decentralized administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland often follow the example of the UK government, with some recent exceptions.
Last year, UK travelers made more than 2.5 million visits to Portugal. Searches for flights to Portugal soared after the country was removed from the UK’s quarantine list just over a week ago.
Paul Charles, a spokesman for the Quash Quarantine group, pointed out that many English and Welsh tourists would be returning home this week anyway due to the start of the school term.
Paul charles
(@PPaulCharles)Monday update: a tough decision for @transportgovuk in this Thursday’s weekly review as #Portugal is now moving steadily into the red zone for quarantine while #Gibraltar still tops the list. Time can help like most #British tourists will be heading home this week. #coronavirus @LaPCAgency pic.twitter.com/07UAotbheD
Passengers arriving in the UK from Portugal no longer had to isolate themselves as of 4am on Saturday 22 August after an approved travel corridor was confirmed.
Google search data showed a significant increase in searches for the term “flights to Portugal” by users in the UK around 6pm on Thursday 20 August, the day the news about the flight was announced. change of quarantine.
Several easyJet flights from London airports to destinations throughout Portugal on the weekend of Saturday 22 August were no longer available on Friday.
Jet2 was one of the airlines aiming to capitalize on the rush, adding additional seats to Faro starting Monday 24th August from across the UK.
Travelers returning from Switzerland, Jamaica and the Czech Republic were the last to be notified that they had to be quarantined for 14 days if they arrived in the UK after 4 a.m. on Saturday following rising infection rates. by coronavirus.
Portugal was initially excluded from England’s free quarantine list when the full list of airlift destinations was announced in July.
The government’s decision not to include Portugal on that list was thought to be related to an increase in coronavirus cases in the capital Lisbon.
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