Holidays needlessly ruined by heavy-handed quarantine measures

sir – The Government’s about-turn on its quarantine policy for Spain (report, July 26) is typical of its wider approach to the Covid-19 pandemic.

As a result of some outbreaks in mainland Spain, all holidaymakers returning from the country are to be quarantined. This will ruin many travellers’ plans completely unnecessarily.

The Government needs to adopt a much more nuanced approach, perhaps only quarantining people arriving from certain airports. The European authorities are getting better at controlling the virus with localised lockdowns – and travel restrictions should be localised, too.

Andrew J Smith

West Malling, Kent

sir – The Government’s decision on quarantine is disappointing.

Not only will it be an inconvenience to holidaymakers but it will also do more damage to the economy.

Moreover, why can’t returning travellers be tested on arrival, instead of having to self-isolate? The Government’s failure to develop such a system is perpetuating people’s misery and delaying Britain’s recovery.

Nigel Legg

Norwich

sir – The Government was right to act decisively on quarantine, but people are entitled to a little more warning.

Perhaps there could be an intermediate status between safe (green) and unsafe (red) for countries suffering spikes. Amber, say.

Had this happened to Spain, many travellers would have thought twice before committing themselves.

Jonathan Firth

Royston, Hertfordshire

sir – One can understand the consternation of those either on holiday in Spain or about to go.

However, the current situation is the result of flawed public attitudes. Lockdown is seen as a kind of onoff switch: as soon as restrictions have been eased, people have immediately headed to places such as Bournemouth or Snowdonia, congregating en masse, or booked holidays in Spain and elsewhere, in the bizarre belief that the infection risk has disappeared overnight.

Covid-19 is still an international threat, and governments need to act quickly, often without notice, to contain it. Those booking holidays abroad without recognising what can go wrong are frankly delusional.

Mike Owen

Warwick

sir – My wife’s recent experience of passport renewal is at odds with the situation you report (“Fast-track passports into action for backlog Britain”, July 25).

She sent off her application on July 11 and received her new passport on July 22: that’s a turnaround time of 11 days, three of which were at weekends. We thought it was an exemplary service.

Alex Taylor

Thame, Oxfordshire