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British tourists are rushing to book early flights home from Portugal as the country appears poised to return to the UK’s quarantine list.
Direct flights from Faro to London are selling fast, starting at around £ 250 for a mid-week seat and climbing to over £ 300 on Friday.
London-based businessman Sergio Dionisio predicts his costly 11.40pm landing in Stansted on Friday will exceed the new quarantine rules by 20 minutes.
‘I just bought another 3 tickets to return to London on Friday arriving at 23.40 in Stansted avoiding quarantine, I have been searching since Saturday and only found 3 tickets today with Ryanair paying another £ 1250 for 3 of us and losing my Tickets from Sunday, crazy. Mr. Dionisio tweeted.
There were 21.1 cases of coronavirus for every 100,000 people in the country during the seven days to August 30, from 19.4 in the week to August 29.
A rate of 20 Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people over a seven-day period is the level that ministers are looking to activate isolation rules.
There are fears that Portugal will be put back on the UK’s quarantine list, after a surge in cases brought it dangerously close to the government’s threshold. In the image, Costa da Caparica beach in Almada
When the cumulative number of Covid-19 cases reaches 20 per 100,000 people over a seven-day period, ministers consider activating isolation rules. The total of 2,171 cases in Portugal during the last week gives a level of 21.1 per 100,000 inhabitants
London-based businessman Sergio Dionisio predicts his costly 11.40pm landing in Stansted on Friday will exceed the new quarantine rules by 20 minutes.
Sergio Dionisio, CEO of Starplus Cleaning Services, booked three Ryanair tickets for £ 1,250
One tourist said he was about to lose “the only thing he hoped for this year” as rising numbers appear poised for Portugal to return to the list, just over a week after the government said the British could travel there safely.
There were 21.1 cases of coronavirus for every 100,000 people in the country during the seven days to August 30, from 19.4 in the week to August 29.
A rate of 20 Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people over a seven-day period is the level that ministers are looking to activate isolation rules.
Around 75,000 UK citizens are believed to be on holiday in Portugal or will be flying there imminently.
Many could face having to fly home early to beat a deadline before any quarantine restrictions are imposed.
A restriction on travelers from Portugal would represent an additional embarrassment for a government that has been criticized for its “chaotic” management of the travel sector during the pandemic. Quarantine rules are reviewed at the end of each week, but ministers have made it clear that they will act more quickly if necessary.
Searches for flights to Portugal soared after the country was removed from the UK’s quarantine list just over a week ago.
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.
Today, the government downplayed the possibility of routine coronavirus testing at airports, suggesting that too many cases would be lost to be effective.
Britain’s Ambassador to Portugal Chris Sainty said: ‘Travelers should consider their plans carefully and take into account the risks of traveling abroad in this fast-moving situation.
“ As Grant Shapps said, travel only if you are satisfied with an unexpected quarantine if necessary. ”
Environment Secretary George Eustice said border controls were always kept under review, but cautioned that screening on arrival would not eliminate the risk of the disease being imported into the country.
Chris Sainty, Britain’s ambassador to Portugal, said Britons abroad should only travel if they are ‘happy with an unexpected quarantine’
The comments came amid fears that Portugal could be put back on the quarantine list, after a surge in cases brought it dangerously close to the government’s threshold.
In a round of interviews this morning, Mr Eustice was asked if it was time for the government to heed requests for widespread testing at airports as part of the UK’s response to the pandemic.
“Obviously, all of these things are always checked,” he told Sky News.
“The advice so far about testing on arrival at airports is that the likelihood of people disappearing who may be asymptomatic and therefore not showing up for testing is quite high.
“Someone can pass a test negative and therefore think they are fine and discover a few days later that they have symptoms.”
The comments came after concerns that nearly 200 passengers who were on a flight from the Greek island of Zante a week ago were told to isolate themselves.
There are 16 Covid-19 cases linked to people who took flight 6215 from Tui to Cardiff on August 25.
In a round of interviews this morning, Environment Secretary George Eustice was asked whether widespread testing at airports should be part of the UK’s response to the pandemic.
Portugal is listed as an ‘amber’ nation, meaning it is approaching the UK’s quarantine threshold with 19.4 virus cases per 100,000 people over a seven-day cumulative count.
Paul Charles, head of travel consultancy PC Agency, said the figures for Portugal suggest he could be removed from the Foreign Ministry’s list of travel brokers within days.
He added: ‘Portugal is likely to be back on the UK’s quarantine list this week and the country itself is now preparing a’ state of contingency ‘from 15 September.
“It has not been able to manage its case load for the last two weeks as more tourists have entered Portugal, especially Lisbon and Porto.”
The PC Agency, which publishes a daily tally of the country’s infection rates, listed Portugal as an ‘amber’ nation, meaning it is approaching the UK’s quarantine threshold with 19.4 virus cases per per 100,000 people over a cumulative count of seven days, compared to 12.2 in Brittany.
Britons preparing to travel abroad have expressed disappointment at the possibility of the holiday being canceled, with one person saying they are “ done with 2020. ”
On Twitter, one user said it would be a ‘joke’ if he was re-listed, writing: ‘I hope I don’t have to cancel my vacation for the third time this year due to the quarantine. I already lost money on previous cancellations.
Tourists seem ready for more disappointment, if Portugal is added to the quarantine list again.
Another complained: ‘The only thing I was waiting for this year is Portugal and I was off the quarantine list and now I could come back. Sick and tired of everything.
In late June, ministers began encouraging Britons to go on holiday abroad to boost the travel industry as restrictions were eased, only to warn in a few weeks that “no trip is risk-free.”
That followed the decision to introduce quarantine measures on arrivals from Spain with just five hours notice.
Mr Charles suggested yesterday that Portugal had been “a victim of its own success in attracting so many tourists quickly”.
When Portugal was added to the list of travel corridors on August 22, meaning that tourists do not need to be quarantined for 14 days after their return to the UK, flight comparison site Skyscanner reported a 2,000 percent increase in reserves.
