Portugal and Greek islands off Welsh quarantine-free list but stay on England’s
Portugal and Greece have retained their places on England’s quarantine exemption list but Wales has added restrictions for the two countries.
The development widens the discrepancies in coronavirus travel policies of Westminster and the devolved administrations.
There was speculation that the UK Government would reimpose the quarantine requirement on Portugal due to a spike in Covid-19 cases, leading many holidaymakers to pay up to £554 to fly home this week.
The Government was also under pressure to reimpose quarantine rules on arrivals from Greece after Scotland and Wales introduced restrictions in recent days.
But Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced there were no changes to the Government’s list on Thursday.
The Welsh Government then revealed that it is removing the exemption from the 14-day self-isolation requirement for travellers returning from Portugal, Gibraltar and six more Greek islands, after Zante was removed from its list earlier this week.
We continue to keep the Travel Corridor list under constant review & won't hesitate to remove countries if needed. However, there are no English additions or removals today.Nonetheless, holidaymakers are reminded – 14-day quarantine countries can & do change at very short notice
— Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP (@grantshapps) September 3, 2020
The new rule comes into force at 4am on Friday.
