Scramble as Croatia falls off safe list

THOUSANDS of British holidaymakers were scrambling back across Europe after Austria joined Croatia being taken off the quarantine exemption list.

Some were forced to pay hundreds of pounds extra for earlier flights or trains to make it home before today’s 4am deadline.

Others decided to travel to third countries to avoid the restrictions or to resign themselves to two weeks’ isolation on their return.

A couple, from Keighley, West Yorks, Liam and Jodie paid £800 to travel home from northern Croatia via Munich to avoid the quarantine rules.

Croatia fell off the safe list after its weekly Covid cases per 100,000 people almost tripled from 10.4 to 27.4.

Sparked

But the Croatian government protested that many of its most popular resorts have lower infection rates than places in Britain.

Its UK ambassador, Igor Pokaz said: “We have witnessed these spikes in certain areas.

“But in Dubrovnik, its surroundings and the islands there were very, very few cases. I mention Dubrovnik and the islands as that is where most of the British tourists go.”

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps insisted travellers must accept the risk.

Mr Shapps, who recently observed a 14-day quarantine after returning from a family holiday to Spain, said: “Regardless of where you’re going, everybody will be travelling with their eyes open this summer because this virus is incredibly unpredictable – and all the more so in the countries where we don’t have any control with the way that the response is handled.”

He also said it is unlikely that Spain and France will be considered safe in the near future, saying: “They have both been going the wrong way.”

But he sparked a late rush for holidays in Portuguese hotspots.