WE’RE NOT GOING ON A SUMMER HOLIDAY...

Other countries may join Spain on quarantine list as virus cases surge across Europe

FOREIGN summer holidays look DOOMED for 2020 with other European countries set to join Spain on the UK’s quarantine list and experts warning: “Don’t book unless you can afford to lose money”.

Ministers decided to reimpose quarantine travel restrictions on Spain after it emerged 10 Britons had returned from the country with coronavirus and Professor Chris Whitty said “doing nothing isn’t an option”.

The Government’s COVID-19 committee met on Saturday afternoon after Health Secretary Matt Hancock raised concerns about a spike in Spanish infections on Friday.

Ministers were told there had been an increase in infection in 15 of Spain’s 19 regions but the clincher was the fact that 10 Britons had recently tested positive after coming back from the country.

There are growing fears that holidays in France and Germany could also be axed due to rising infection rates.

Meanwhile, local government minister Simon Clarke said yesterday the British public will just have to accept there is a “degree of uncertainty” around foreign travel at the moment.

Spain has reacted with dismay after Britain put the country on the plague list and its Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the move by Britain was an “error” and is “unjust”.

Brits make up over a fifth of foreign visitors to Spain, which relies heavily on tourism, and Madrid has said the UK government gave it no warning that the quarantine move was coming last weekend. Measures

Travel firm TUI UK cancelled all holidays to the Balearic Islands and Canary Islands after the Foreign Office updated its travel advice last night.

The announcement of the Government’s new Spanish travel warnings came after PM Boris Johnson’s spokesman said decisions on border measures and travel advice “can be changed rapidly if necessary to help stop the spread of the disease”.

He went on: “Our travel advice and exemption list is under constant review.”

Guy Anker from MoneySavingExpert said: “People who booked a holiday or took out insurance after mid-March are not going to be covered by a local lockdown or the decision to change travel advice.

“My advice would be, do not spend any money at the moment that you can’t afford to lose, or where flexibility is not written into your airline ticket or hotel booking.”