UK transport secretary Grant Shapps has announced the
government’s Joint Biosecurity Centre now has enough data on regional
coronavirus cases to allow for the establishment of travel corridors for areas
of countries where the infection rate is below a certain level, but only if
there is a natural border such as an island.
The new policy means the government can make decisions to
reopen quarantine-free travel to islands within countries where restrictions
have been introduced – and likewise impose self-isolation requirements where
infections are higher on islands as opposed to the mainland.
The latter scenario will be the case in Greece, where
quarantine-free travel will remain for the mainland but be removed for seven
islands – Lesbos (Lesvos), Tinos, Serifos, Mykonos, Santorini, Crete and Zakynthos
(Zante) – as of 0400 on Wednesday, 9 September.
While the new policy goes into effect immediately, Shapps
said the only change being announced today was for Greece, quoting a high rate
of cases across Spain as a reason for not being able to add popular holiday
destinations such as the Canary Islands to the safe list.
He added that air bridges will only be considered for
islands with either direct flights to the UK or connections in countries that
are not subject to travel restrictions.
The news comes after backlash from the travel industry over blanket quarantine measures for entire nations. There was also criticism last week of the disjointed approach of the UK's four nations on introducing new travel restrictions, with Wales requiring quarantine for six Greek islands and Scotland adding the requirement for the whole of Greece while England and Northern Ireland chose not to implement restrictions until today's announcement.
Shapps claimed it was only recently that the Joint Biosecurity
Centre, which was set up to help the government determine which countries could
be added to the list of travel corridors, had enough detail on regional data on
infection rates within Europe to implement localised restrictions.
Shapps also promised to report back to the House of Commons “in
the next few weeks” about the Department for Transport’s ongoing research into the
possibility of using coronavirus testing to shorten the amount of time incoming
travellers have to quarantine. He reiterated prime minister Boris Johnson’s
claim that one-time testing at airports may only catch 7 per cent of positive
cases, saying that instead his department is considering a combination of two
tests with a shortened self-isolation period, similar to a system currently being used in Iceland.
However, he said the government is being guided by
scientists, who have yet to approve the private testing kits being proposed by
airports such as Heathrow, which has worked with Collinson and Swissport to set
up testing facilities. He said he will only make another announcement about
testing once the process is approved by those scientists.