Portugal - Greece

Will UK Add Greece and Portugal to Quarantine List?

The new Covid-19 cases continue to rise both in Portugal and Greece, the UK government may add them to its quarantine list.

Scottish government placed Greece on the quarantine list on September 1, while the Welsh government only added the Greek island of Zante.

It means that Scottish travelers currently in Greece, or who decide to travel anyway, will also have to self-isolate for 14 days upon their return when they arrive after 4 am on September 3.

Greece currently remains off the English list, but there is a growing pressure on England to follow suit after a spike in coronavirus cases in the country. Greece currently only has 14.3 cases per 100,000, which is well below the 20 per 100,000 believed to be the British government’s benchmark for imposing restrictions. Although there are currently no quarantine restrictions, TUI has stopped all holidays to Laganas, a resort in Zante, after two flights from the island to the UK reported cases on board, according to The Sun.

With 58,663 cases, Portugal currently has 22.7 new cases per day, per 100,000 population, as analyzed over seven days, compared to just 14.2 last week.

The pressure is mounting on England to consider imposing quarantine rules on travelers arriving from Portugal. There will be a government announcement on Friday, September 4.

Speaking on Sky News this morning, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said that they follow the data and make quarantine announcements in an organized way on a Friday lunchtime.

“We are going to publish a further decision tomorrow having looked at the data and I’m not going to pre-judge that,” said Hancock.

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