Passengers head abroad as quarantine rules end
Big restaurant chainstokeep 40 sites shut
LEADING charities are calling on the Government to allow relatives of dementia patients to become key workers so they can make visits.
Organisations including Alzheimer’s Society and Dementia UK have reportedly signed a letter to Health Secretary Matt Hancock.
It says visits must resume soon to provide an “essential” boost to isolated family members.
Care homes have been closed to non-essential visitors since March.
Mr Hancock said this week the Government would be setting out how care home visits can resume.
He said: “People are yearning to see loved ones… I hope in the next few days we’ll be able to make this change.” Care England chief Prof Martin Green said a “balance” must be struck between allowing visits and protecting residents.
PASSENGERS jetted off for family reunions and holidays yesterday for the first time in months as curbs on travel were scrapped.
Quarantine rules for people returning from a host of countries were axed – meaning they will not have to self-isolate for a fortnight.
It should boost tourism, with foreign nationals from those countries not needing to quarantine on arrival.
The latest easing of coronavirus restrictions came as the UK death toll rose to 44,650 – up by 48 on the previous day.
France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Cyprus and Turkey were among 59 countries opened.
Manchester Airport chief operating officer Brad Miller said: “These travel corridors will open up the chance for people to enjoy a well-earned break abroad and directly benefit the hundreds of thousands of people whose jobs depend on air travel for their livelihoods.”
Serbia was removed from the approved list at the last minute as the Joint Biosecurity Centre and Public Health England “updated their coronavirus assessments of Serbia based on the latest data”. There have been two nights of clashes in the capital Belgrade, with thousands of people protesting against lockdown.
Authorities have reported 352 coronavirus deaths and 17,342 cases but it has been claimed the figures do not represent the full impact.
Flyers passing through Gatwick’s North Terminal yesterday admitted they would not be travelling if they were still required to self-isolate on their return.
“We’d have probably gone later,” said Ray Gordge, 64, of Taunton, Somerset, who was heading to see his daughter in Paris for the first time in six months, and meet his grandson, born last week. “It’s exciting. It’s nice to have a bit more normality,” he said. Eoin Burgin, a 21-year-old student at Edinburgh University, was “very excited” to head to Basel in Switzerland to see his girlfriend for the first time in about five months.
He admitted: “I wouldn’t be going if the changes hadn’t been made.”
Gatwick’s chief executive Stewart Wingate said the easing of curbs would make “a massive difference”. He said: “About 75% of destinations are quarantine-free for passengers
Ray Gordge
THE owner of restaurant chains Frankie & Benny’s and Wagamama says one in 10 of its sites will not reopen this year, creating panic over jobs.
This is most likely to affect airport sites, which are suffering from a pandemictriggered slump in passenger numbers.
Around 40 restaurant coming back into Gatwick. We’re hoping that will persuade people to take advantage of flights.”
Portugal was left off the list of travel corridors following a spike in cases around the capital,
Lisbon. But critics pointed out most holidaymakers from Britain went to the Algarve.
Tour giant TUI tried to tempt back passengers by announcing a series of protections for customers.
The company will pay for medical tests, flights and extended hotel stays if they catch Covid-19 while on holiday. The UK’s biggest tour operator’s Covid-19
Cover will be provided to every traveller until December 31.
The firm announced it will resume holidays to seven new destinations from July 25. They include Menorca, Malaga, Alicante, Reus, Zakynthos, Fuerteventura and Gran Canaria.
outlets are expected to be hit by the extended closures.
The Restaurant Group did not give details about staff who were employed at those sites but the vast majority of its 20,000 workforce has been furloughed since the start of the lockdown.
Last month, the company announced plans to shut 125
Flights from Bristol will resume on July 25, while from August 1 it will begin operating from Glasgow, Newcastle, East Midlands, Doncaster, Cardiff, Stansted, Bournemouth and Exeter.
However, a poll by Redfield & Wilton Strategies found just 17% of people are planning to go abroad this year, 22% said they will go on holiday in the UK, while 54% have abandoned hopes of a break.
The quarantine, which began on June 8, was heavily criticised. Figures yesterday showed up to June 22 that no one was fined in England and Wales for breaching self-isolation on arrival from abroad. A Government spokesman said: “Quarantine is informed by science, backed by the public and designed to keep us all safe.”
sites, putting up to 3,000 jobs at risk.
The latest threat comes as a day after 7,000 high street jobs were left hanging in the balance at chemist Boots, John Lewis and Burger King.
The number of jobs axed or put at risk by big businesses since the start of lockdown in March has topped 150,000.
A London Wagamama