Which European countries will be on UK travel quarantine list?
29 July 2020, 13:35 | Updated: 29 July 2020, 14:32
A number of holiday destinations in Europe are seeing a rise in COVID-19 infections, meaning the British Government are rethinking some of their air bridges.
The introduction of air bridges and travel corridors earlier this month has meant that many Brits have been jetting off abroad, but the Government are now thinking of reversing some of these allowances.
It comes as new data reveals that coronavirus infection rates are suddenly beginning to skyrocket in a number of previously 'allowed' countries such as Spain, and the UK has since placed a restriction on those coming from the country.
Anyone arriving in the UK from Spain will need to quarantine for two weeks, and the Government have stated they will not hesitate to place the same restrictions on other countries going forwards.
A number of other European holiday destinations have rising infection rates, and while cases in many are flow, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has presented figures that show the numbers in those testing positive for COVID-19 are going up.
At the moment, Spain is the only country that's seen as a huge threat after figures have displayed 39.4 cases per 100,000 population occurring in the last fortnight.
But the number of people testing positive has also rocketed, with the rate of infection rising from 11/100,000 in the two weeks to 12 July.
Currently, none of the major holiday destinations are experiencing similar rises in rates, however, there are a number of countries in Europe that are seeing increasing rates.
Some of these include the countries that have had the FCO's restrictions removed.
Luxembourg is one of these countries, and although it has a small population in comparison to its neighbours France, Belgium and Germany, they are seeing rising rates at the moment.
Yet, it is exempt from the FCO advice to avoid all but essential travel.
Another country that could join the UK's list of countries that require a two-week quarantine upon return could be France.
At the moment, their two-week infection rate ia 14.6/100,000, with a 25 per cent raise in number in the past fortnight.
The UK is said to be looking at France but, so far, the rise in infections has been significantly lower than in Spain, with no regions of the country seeing rates of more than 20/100,000.
Their two-week rate is exactly the same as the UK's - 14.6/100,000.
Italy is also a possibility, despite their two-week infection rate being lower than the UK at 5/100,000.
Rates in Italy had fallen to their lowest levels since the pandemic took off until recently, despite having been the original epicentre of Europe.
Some of the other countries that could potentially be removed from the quarantine exemption list are:
The Republic of Ireland
The Netherlands
Greece
Portugal
Germany
Poland
Turkey
