Coronavirus: Portugal returns to England’s quarantine list

Travelers from mainland Portugal to England will need to be quarantined starting at 04:00 BST on Saturday, just a few weeks after the country was placed on the safe list.

Wales and Scotland had already imposed the mandatory two weeks of self-isolation earlier this month.

Non-quarantine travel is still allowed from the Portuguese islands, the Azores and Madeira.

Meanwhile, Sweden has been exempted from quarantine for Wales, England and Scotland.

People traveling to England, Wales, and Scotland from Hungary and Reunion will also need to isolate themselves, while England also requires arrivals from French Polynesia to be quarantined.

Hungary has a seven-day rate of 31.6 infections per 100,000 inhabitants and the rate for French Polynesia is 71.3.

Portugal, one of the UK’s most popular holiday destinations, received an exemption from the UK’s quarantine rules on August 22.

But since then, the level of infection has been increasing. It now has 28.3 infections per 100,000 people, above the threshold of 20 per 100,000 people generally used by the UK to add countries to the quarantine list.

Portugal expressed “regret” over the decision to quarantine the continent, but said it appreciated the continued inclusion of the Azores and Madeira in the list of safe “travel corridors”.

It comes as confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK rose by another 2,919, the fifth day in a row the number has surpassed 2,000. An additional 14 deaths were reported within 28 days of a positive test.

Transportation Secretary Grant Shapps said that thanks to “improved data,” the government was able to assess infection rates for islands separate from their mainland countries.

On Wednesday, quarantine requirements were also imposed on seven Greek islands, the first time that different self-isolation rules were applied on the mainland of a country and its islands.

Shapps also emphasized that travelers must complete the Passenger Locator Form upon arrival in the UK, a day after the prime minister said enforcement of this part of the quarantine rules would be stepped up.

“It is a crime not to fill out the form and there will be spot checks,” Shapps said.

Figures show that nearly 2 million random checks have been carried out to ensure travelers have completed the form, and calls and texts were made to 136,500 people to verify they were in quarantine.

The successful contact, in which the traveler was spoken to or a text message was responded to, was made 66,773 times and 64,800 people confirmed that they were self-isolating. Only 34 fines have been issued.

Travel industry body Abta, along with CEOs of airlines such as easyJet, Ryanair and British Airways, are calling on the government to introduce tests on arrival at airports and to change the quarantine policy so that continental regions can receive different treatment.

“Each country, continent or island that is removed from the government travel list reduces the operating capacity of travel companies and increases the need for the government to provide personalized industrial support,” said an Abta spokesman.

Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, said tourists were now “more aware” of the risks of traveling abroad, but said “last-minute” decisions meant that many missed refunds or were “extorted” with additional airfare if they tried to quickly return home. .

“It is obvious that the current travel corridor system is not working for passengers and it is becoming completely detrimental to the already waning confidence in the sector,” he said.

Sweden adopted a lighter strategy to deal with the pandemic compared to most other European countries, decided not to institute a generalized lockdown, and established relatively few restrictions.

This was partly based on the idea of ​​allowing Covid-19 to spread through the population creating so-called herd immunity. This approach was considered but later abandoned in the UK.

Research published in August suggested that exposure to the coronavirus was similar in Stockholm and London, based on antibody tests, despite different blocking strategies.

In other developments:

• The number of people who have died from the virus worldwide reached 900,000
• Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the new rules prohibiting social gatherings of more than six people will not stay in effect “for longer than necessary.”
• Public health officials have ordered the closure of the Southampton International Boat Show, a day before 20,000 visitors were expected to arrive on the city’s waterfront.
• Northern Ireland to impose new restrictions on visiting other households in select areas starting next week
• And Scotland has also limited meetings to a maximum of six people, as Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the spread of the virus was accelerating.
• Faithless music and DJ Sister Bliss has said that UK nightclubs have been “left to rot in a corner” without support during the pandemic.
• The government has released its coronavirus guidance for universities before students return later this month, with full online learning only as a last resort.
• The disruption of hospitals in England during the pandemic has meant that the number of patients facing long waits for routine operations has skyrocketed, new figures show.

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