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Italy has been added to the UK’s quarantine list, which means that travelers returning from the country will have to self-isolate for 14 days.
The measure will take effect at 4 a.m. on Sunday.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has also announced that people arriving in the UK from Vatican City state and San Marino will have to isolate themselves.
Crete has been removed from the list of restricted locations, so people arriving from the Greek island will no longer have to isolate themselves.
The move was announced after Italy posted its largest single-day increase in infections since the outbreak began, adding another 8,804 cases.
Yesterday it reported 7,332 cases.
This brings its case rate from seven days per 100,000 people to 64.
The UK case rate is currently 166.
The figures are based on data compiled by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control.
A rate of 20 is the threshold above which the government considers triggering quarantine conditions.
The latest number of people in intensive care with coronavirus in Italy is 586.
There have been 83 other COVID-related deaths, jumping from 43 yesterday. At the peak of the virus, Italy experienced more than 900 deaths a day.
The removal of Italy’s exemption is a further blow to the UK travel industry, as it was one of its last major markets without a quarantine requirement for returning tourists.
Last week, Italy introduced mandatory coronavirus testing for arriving UK visitors.
Arrivals from European countries such as the UK, France and Spain must provide evidence of a negative test performed within 72 hours of travel.
Visitors who cannot provide proof of a negative result at the border must take a test in Italy.
Mark Tanzer, chief executive of the travel trade organization ABTA, expressed concerns Wednesday that more travel companies could go bankrupt in just a few weeks due to the pandemic.
He said that at least 20 travel companies with operations in the United Kingdom have already collapsed since March.
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