Will I need to quarantine when I fly from Portugal?
Q I am a British resident in Portugal, where we are all excited about the “green list” because it will allow us to travel back to the UK without quarantine. There are some ridiculously cheap tickets in the next week, many of them at €10 (£8.60) one way on Ryanair. I assume that if I buy one I will be travelling back from a “green” country and so I won’t need to self-isolate. But one of my neighbours said that because I will have been in an amber country in the past 10 days, I will need to quarantine. Which of us is right?
Name supplied
A Portugal is on the UK’s “amber list” until 4am on Monday 17 May. Anyone arriving today must take a pre-departure Covid test, self-isolate for 10 days on their return and book two post-arrival PCR tests – one for day two of their quarantine, the other for day eight.
The government says Portugal “will move from amber to green list [at] 4am, Monday 17 May”. I believed that you were correct in your assessment: that what counts is a country’s status at the time you arrive from it. The question asked on the passenger locator form for returning to the UK is not: “Have you been in any amber list countries in the past 10 days?”
It is simply: “Which countries have you been in for the 10 days before coming to the UK?”
But officials at the Department for Transport (DfT), tell me that your neighbour is correct. Because you will have been in Portugal while it was still on amber, the more onerous provisions apply. That rule will apply to everyone arriving in the UK from any of the 12 “green list” locations until 4am on Thursday 27 May – unless they have travelled out from the UK on or after 17 May.
To avoid quarantine, and reduce the cost of trips, you will need to delay your arrival for 10 days. Even when you can take advantage of green list status, you will still have to jump through a few hoops. In advance of your return home, you must complete the passenger locator form, find a medical centre in Portugal where you can take a test before departure and pre-book a single PCR test that you must take within two days of touching down back in the UK.
Good luck.