No overseas travel is risk free, warns No10
PM says he will not hesitate to impose quarantine on more destinations, despite complaints about confusion
THERE is “no risk-free way of travelling overseas” Downing Street has warned, after Boris Johnson said he would “not hesitate” to impose quarantine for other countries.
The Government is expected to strike France from the “green list” of quarantine-free countries later this week, after the Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC) meets tomorrow to analyse the latest data on coronavirus cases across the world.
Other countries that are at risk of being dropped include the Netherlands, Switzerland, Poland and Malta, while there are hopes that Portugal may be reinstated.
Number 10 said it would not hesitate to “act rapidly” to remove countries from the quarantine-free travel list in response to rising cases.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “We have been updating the exemptions list on a weekly basis in order to make sure that it reflects the changes in the international health picture. Unfortunately, during this pandemic there isn’t a risk-free way of travelling overseas.”
On a visit to a school in east London yesterday, Mr Johnson said that while he did not want to “advise people” about their holiday decisions, he urged Britons to check Foreign Office advice before travelling.
He said: “In the context of a global pandemic, we’ve got to keep looking at the data in all the countries to which British people want to travel.
“Where it is necessary to impose restrictions or to impose a quarantine system, we will not hesitate to do so.
“It’s been a huge effort for the entire population of this country to get the disease down to the levels that we are currently seeing, but we do not want reinfection and that’s why we’ve got to keep a very, very close eye on the data in destinations around the world.”
The JBC will analyse the latest global data on coronavirus before the Government makes an updated quarantine announcement on Thursday.
The level of risk will be calculated based on individual countries’ incidence rates, trends in the number of cases, as well as estimates of the proportion of the population with coronavirus. A Government source said that France’s data was at a “concern level” when it was analysed last week.
Travel industry figures warned that the French “won’t lie down” and accept new quarantine rules without retaliation.
Noel Josephides, director of the Association of Independent Tour Operators, said: “If the Government does take this course of action France will turn around and say, ‘We’re testing more, why don’t you test more people?’
“If they pick on France, they won’t lie down like Spain or Portugal. There is already diplomatic tension over the Channel issues. I would be surprised if France didn’t make any reciprocal moves.”
He said that speculation had left both the industry and customers “completely confused” and risked harming the already beleaguered travel industry further. Mr Josephides added: “The Government is doing its best to frighten people from travelling abroad.
Writing for The Telegraph website, Paul Charles, founder of travel consultancy the PC Agency, said it was “highly unlikely” France will avoid being struck off the “green list”.
But, in a glimmer of hope for holidaymakers, the French health ministry said yesterday that the country had recorded 785 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, compared with 2,288 cases on Friday.
However, it gave no indication of the number of infections over the weekend, saying only that it had registered 10,800 new cases over the past week.