Travel torment as Turkey and Poland put on quarantine list

Their virus rates are lower than UK but...

TRAVELLERS from Turkey, Poland and three Caribbean islands must quarantine for 14 days when they arrive in the UK from tomorrow, ministers announced last night.

The removal of the destinations from the list of travel corridors further limits the number of destinations open to holidaymakers as the virus surges across the world.

It also prompted criticism of the Government by the struggling aviation industry since the UK’s current rate of infection per 100,000 for seven days is 65.3 – far higher than either Turkey and Poland.

But Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said anyone arriving in the UK from the two countries – plus the Caribbean islands of Bonaire, St Eustatius and Saba after 4am tomorrow – must quarantine. Those failing to do so could face increased fines of up to £10,000.

Mr Shapps tweeted last night: ‘Data from Poland shows that test positivity has nearly doubled, increasing from 3.9 per cent to 5.8 per cent alongside a rapid increase in weekly cases.’ The Department for Transport (DoT) said data indicated a surge in both the level and pace of the virus in these destinations. Turkey was added to the list despite its infection rate dropping to 12.9 cases from 14.2 the previous week.

However, it said it was defining new cases in a different way to other countries, prompting a reevaluation of its rate of infecnewly tion. The Scottish Government said case numbers in Turkey ‘ have been under- reported’. Data from Poland shows a 66 per cent increase in the weekly number of cases per 100,000, rising from 14.7 to 24.4 on September 30.

A seven- day rate of 20 new cases per 100,000 people is the threshold above which the UK

Government considers triggering quarantine conditions.

Despite Italy’s weekly rate increasing to 20.4 cases, up from 18.4, it was not mentioned in the announcement.

The DoT said that there had been a consistent increase in reported cases in Bonaire, St Eustatius and Saba over two weeks. The Foreign Office now advises against all but essential travel to the Caribbean islands and to Poland and Turkey. The five have also been removed from the Scottish Government’s list of travel corridors.

The change was greeted with dismay by aviation chiefs. A spokesman for Manchester Airports Group said: ‘ Today’s announcement is a further blow to the aviation sector.

‘Poland and Turkey are hugely popular destinations, and their removal from the safe travel list means that a large proportion of the markets our passengers usually travel to are now effectively closed-off, despite many of them having much lower infection rates than the UK.’

‘Another blow to aviation’