Greece could be spared from England's quarantine list as coronavirus cases stay below threshold

Pressure is mounting on England to impose quarantine rules on travellers arriving from Greece
Tourists have their temperature taken before boarding a boat on the island of Rhodes
AFP via Getty Images
Imogen Braddick3 September 2020

Greece could be spared from England's travel "red list" as coronavirus cases remain below the threshold for quarantine conditions for another week.

There were 13.8 cases per 100,000 people in Greece in the seven days to September 2, down from 14.9 a week earlier.

A seven-day rate of 20 is the threshold above which the UK Government will currently consider triggering quarantine conditions.

In Portugal, the seven-day rate has increased from 15.3 to 23.0 over the same period, according to data collected by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

Meanwhile, the rate in Ireland is 15.3, while in the UK it is 14.7.

But pressure is mounting on England to consider imposing quarantine rules on travellers arriving from Greece amid reports of people returning with coronavirus.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said a decision on whether to impose restrictions on the countries would be announced on Friday.

He was unable to say whether someone could travel to Portugal on Friday without needing to quarantine on their return, when pressed on Sky News.

Greece is currently on the UK's safe travel list
AP

"The simpler answer is that we follow the data and we make these announcements in an organised way on a Friday lunchtime," he said.

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

Rising Covid cases in Greece prompted the Scottish Government to impose quarantine restrictions on travellers from Thursday, while Wales began asking arrivals from the island of Zante to enter quarantine.

The UK’s biggest tour operator Tui has also suspended its holidays to the resort of Laganas on Zante.

But Greece has insisted it is doing “everything in our power” to keep UK holidaymakers safe.

In Buckinghamshire, two groups of people have tested positive for coronavirus after returning from abroad – including a group of teenagers from the Marlow area who are reported to have been on a trip to Zante.

Buckinghamshire Council said some of them were pupils at Sir William Borlase’s Grammar School and all the affected households were self-isolating.

Tour operator Tui also said it was aware of a “small number” of positive Covid-19 test results following a flight from Heraklion in Crete to London Stansted on August 27.

Public Health Wales also confirmed at least 16 cases of Covid-19 from three different parties who were on Tui flight 6215 from Zante to Cardiff on August 25.

The Guardian also reported that officials had not notified Wizz Airline that eight passengers on a flight back from Crete had tested positive for coronavirus.

The teenagers, from Hampshire, were diagnosed after returning to London Luton airport on 25 August, it said.

The Department of Health and Social Care said that it had taken action to advise the necessary people to self-isolate and its contact tracing team had been in touch with Wizz Air.

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