Quarantine chaos over Portugal & Greece hols
Different rules across UK over Portugal & Greece Fears Test and Trace is failing to control pandemic
THE chaos and confusion around UK travel quarantine deepened last night as England, Scotland and Wales set different rules for holidaymakers returning from Greece and Portugal.
Wales added restrictions for some travellers from Portugal and a number of Greek Islands, while Scotland set a 14-day quarantine for arrivals from Portugal and Greece.
There was speculation the Government would reimpose quarantine on Portugal due to a spike in Covid-19 cases, sparking a stampede home.
But Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said there were no changes in England – with Portugal and Greece still on the exemption list.
He said last night: “We keep the Travel Corridor list under constant review and won’t hesitate to remove countries. However, there are no English additions or removals today.”
There were 23 Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people in Portugal in the seven days to Wednesday, up from 15.3 a week earlier. A seven-day rate of 20 is the threshold where the Government has considered triggering quarantine conditions.
Wales has added mainland Portugal to its quarantine list but the Azores and Madeira stay exempt. The Greek islands of Mykonos, Zakynthos, Lesbos, Paros and Antiparos and Crete were also added, along with Gibraltar and French Polynesia. The new rules came into force at 4am.
Scotland’s twoweek quarantine on arrivals from
Portugal or French Polynesia kick in at
4am tomorrow.
Furious Kelly Jones, of Birmingham, paid Jet2 £900 to switch her family’s flights home from the Algarve from Saturday to Friday to avoid quarantine. The 45-year-old said they acted after monitoring Portugal’s infection rate, adding: “The Government change the goalposts left, right and centre at the moment. They don’t make things clear enough.
“They say they need the rate under 20 and it’s gone above that, so why wouldn’t you think it would go on the list?”
Mr Shapps said other factors are considered, including the extent of testing and whether outbreaks are “contained”. But social media users hit out – with Charlie Spurs saying: “Having Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and England all coming up
with different rules is crazy.”
Paul Charles, of travel consultancy The PC Agency, said quarantine policy “is in tatters and dividing the UK”.
Me a nw h i le , experts warned NHS Test and Trace is not reaching enough people to control Covid- 19 and stop a second wave. Analysis for the Mirror reveals staff were reaching 45% of contacts at the end of August. It follows modelling published in the
Lancet journal showing that the figure needed to be at least 68% by the time schools went back.
And it comes amid fears tests are being rationed as there are not enough.
Patients told of being advised to drive up to 500 miles for a slot at a drive-through. Health Secretary Matt Hancock claimed Test and Trace is “working well” and testing is being prioritised in areas with known spikes. But Professor Chris Bonell of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, author of the Lancet paper, said: “The rate of contacts being reached has actually gone down.
“The overall 45.3% figure is nowhere near the 80% level of coverage SAGE previously suggested as a target, or the 68% figure our model suggested was needed to prevent a second wave.”
Shadow Health Minister Justin Madders branded the figures “hugely disappointing”, adding: “With the Government pushing for everyone to return to work, it is more important than ever Test and Trace is working.”