A handful of Greek islands have been REMOVED from the quarantine list and no countries were added to it.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced today that anyone heading back from the Greek islands of Lesvos, Tinos, Serifos, Santorini and Zakynthos from 4am on Saturday would no longer need to quarantine.
Mr Shapps said this evening: “We are ADDING Lesvos, Tinos, Serifos, Santorini and Zakynthos to the #TravelCorridor list this week.
“From 4am Saturday 10th Oct, if you arrive from those Greek islands, you will NO LONGER need to self-isolate.”
It comes after Mr Shapps introduced a new policy to carve out quarantine exemptions for islands.
If Brits are able to fly direct to a particular island with low infection rates they won’t have to quarantine, even if the mainland has travel restrictions.
It meant Mr Shapps was able to quarantine some Greek islands, without slapping strict rules on all of Greece.
There are still travel restrictions on Zante, Crete, Mykonos.
There were fears Greece and Italy could both be put on the quarantine list, but travel experts have questioned the reasoning behind quarantining countries with rates of coronavirus far lower than the UK, as cases hit 17,542 today.
Both countries had a rate over the previous threshold for quarantine – 20 cases per 100,000.
Britain’s infection rate is currently 136.6 cases per 100,000.
CEO of the travel consultancy, The PC Agency Paul Charles wrote on Twitter: “With UK infection rates at a high level, the #JointBiosecurityCentre is changing its approach.
“There’s clearly little point adding countries with much lower rates to the quarantine lists.”
Brits face very limited options for half-term get-aways as the list of European countries without travel restrictions has been whittled down over the last few months.
Earlier today Italy slapped extra quarantine rules on Brits, telling them they need to get a coronavirus test no more than 72 hours before travelling or face quarantining upon arrival.
Some Italian airports offer free testing upon arrival, but anyone who gets a positive test will be quarantined and must have a negative swab twice in a row in order to be freed.
The Foreign Office warned: “If you test positive within Italy, you will be required to quarantine.
“The time spent in quarantine can vary greatly from a few days to several weeks.
“Travellers should be prepared for this eventuality.”
Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.hellofaread.com/politics/northern-leaders-react-with-fury-at-being-treated-like-a-petri-dish-with-plans-to-shut-pubs/
