Portugal blasts Britain for not following ‘facts’ as holiday favourite is again left OFF UK quarantine-free travel list but rules are eased for Estonia, Latvia, Slovakia, and Slovenia
- Ministers today a list of nationsexempt from 14-day isolation this afternoon
- Portugal again left off, provoking anger in a country heavily reliant on tourism
- Foreign minister Augusto Santos Silva said decision ‘not backed by facts’
Portugal vented its fury at Britain today as ministers refused to remove the popular holiday destination from its quarantine list.
Ministers updated a list of nations from which arrivals would be exempt from 14-day isolation this afternoon but the popular holiday destination was still missing from it.
It was left off when the system was launched three weeks ago amid fears at its level of coronavirus infections, promoting initial anger in Lisbon.
The refusal to change it today sparked further uproar in Portugal, which relies heavily on tourism, with foreign minister Augusto Santos Silva saying the decision was ‘not backed by facts’.
But five other nations have been placed on the approved air bridge list: Estonia, Latvia, Slovakia, Slovenia and the Caribbean islands’ nation of St Vincent and the Grenadines.
The change will come into effect from Tuesday.
Spain remains on the list of nations cleared for quarantine-free trave, despite fears it is suffering a second peak of infections.
It was left off when the system was launched three weeks ago amid fears at its level of coronavirus infections, promoting initial anger in Lisbon
The refusal to change it today sparked further uproar in Portugal, which relies heavily on tourism, with foreign minister Augusto Santos Silva saying the decision was ‘not backed by facts’.
Deputy emergency health director Maria Jose Sierra has revealed her concerns over the spike in Covid-19 cases after the country recorded an additional 2,615 new infections yesterday – doubling from 1,357 the previous day.
Ms Sierra said: ‘We have important outbreaks. It could be a second wave. We’ll have to see what happens in the next few weeks.’
France has not ruled out closing its borders to Spain and Norway is threatening to add it to its red list of countries that require returning visitors to be quarantined for ten days.
French health officials have recorded 4,724 new cases this week, up from 3,922 from last Monday to Friday and 3,792 in the working week before that.
British tourists have also been warned that a new travel system means air bridges could collapse at short notice leaving them facing a quarantine on return to the UK.
The Spanish tourism industry, which accounts for around 12 per cent of the nation’s economy, now faces uncertainty after the country’s borders were reopened to tourists with great fanfare last month.
This graph shows Spain’s new coronavirus cases for the past two weeks. It recorded an additional 2,615 new infections yesterday – up from 1357 the previous day. The large spike of 4,000 cases is a result of the country stopping reporting cases over weekends
Spain has not exceeded four coronavirus deaths per day in the past two weeks