British tourists rush to get home

An estimated 500,000 Britons were rushing home from European holidays to try to beat new quarantine regulations after COVID-19 flared up in multiple countries.

As of Saturday, all returning Brits must go into 14 days of quarantine after a surge in the number of coronavirus cases across the English Channel.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and senior cabinet ministers signed off on the restrictions after the number of new French virus cases hit a post-lockdown record.

Holidaymakers will be given until 4am on Saturday, local time, to return before the restrictions are implemented, prompting a scramble to book trains, ferries and flights home.

Travel analysts said an estimated half a million Britons were on holiday in France, and another 450,000 had booked to go out this month.

The scale of demand from those seeking to travel back is likely to mean that many people will be left with no choice but to stay on their holidays and go into quarantine when they return.

It means children in families who continue their breaks could miss the first week of the school term.

Cross-Channel ferries and European airlines are already operating reduced services and the Channel Tunnel has warned that its services are “absolutely chocka”.

The Foreign Office will also update its advice to warn against all but essential travel to France, effectively banning Brits from holidays in the two most popular destinations in Europe, because Spain was removed from the government’s safe list last month.

Mr Johnson (pictured) said shortly before the announcement that the government had to be “absolutely ruthless” about the decision, which the travel industry said would damage the sector.

The government also announced that people travelling back from Monaco, Malta, the Netherlands, the Turks and Caicos islands, and Aruba would have to quarantine.