UK nations divided on new quarantine restrictions

The individual nations within the UK appear to have differing criteria for when to take countries off their list of travel corridors, with Scotland and Wales re-introducing quarantine requirements for travellers arriving from Portugal and Greece while England and Northern Ireland have held off on making a decision.

Generally speaking, the main indicator for whether a travel corridor will be revoked is confirmed coronavirus infections rising above 20 per 100,000 population within a seven-day period. In Portugal, that rate has risen from 15.3 to 23, spurring Scotland to announce that travellers arriving from the country will have to self-isolate from 0400 on Saturday, 5 September. Wales has now introduced similar measures as of today.

Greece, on the other hand, currently sits at 13.8 cases per 100,000 for the seven days to 2 September, down from 14.9 a week earlier.

Scotland and Wales have both also added French Polynesia to the quarantine list, while Wales will require those arriving from six Greek islands – Crete, Mykonos, Zakynthos (Zante), Lesbos, Paros and Antiparos – and Gibraltar to self-isolate for 14 days. Scotland re-introduced quarantine measures for the whole of Greece earlier this week.

But England and Northern Ireland have not added any countries to their quarantine lists this week. Transport secretary Grant Shapps Tweeted last night that the Joint Biosecurity Centre and ministers take into account a number of factors other than the infection rate, including the level and rate of change, extent of in-country tests, regime and test positivity, the extent of a contained outbreak as opposed to general transmission, government actions to control new infections and “other epidemiological information”. According to the BBC, a spokesperson for the Department for Transport said Portugal has increased testing capacity and is also taking measures to control outbreaks.

The travel industry has lamented the variation in rules across the UK, with experts saying the confusion could prevent people from travelling altogether to avoid getting caught unawares. Paul Charles, CEO of The PC Agency, said “it’s impossible to understand the government’s own criteria anymore on when to add or remove a country”, according to the BBC.

Johanna Bonhill-Smith, travel and tourism analyst at GlobalData, commented: "The idea of a 'swift recovery' of tourism post-Covid-19 has been thwarted. Ongoing fluidity of the UK's air bridges, coupled with economic constraints and general anxiety, means that the UK outbound market will be decimated in 2020 and will likely be further affected in 2021.

"The UK government has consistently been criticised for its approach to handling Covid-19, including most recently the blanket quarantine policies. With Wales and Scotland now introducing their own measures for quarantine, we are witnessing a lack of a unified approach, which will further add to the confusion and anxiety regarding travel in 2020.

"If the 'quarantine roulette' persists and the UK continues to operate a disjointed approach, this will only heighten consumer concerns over travel plans, likely prolonging travel recovery."

Wales’ decision to only include six of the Greek islands on its quarantine list brings up another interesting question – whether localised or regional travel corridors are possible as part of the government’s policy. The idea has so far been dismissed in favour of locking down entire countries, but travel experts have said regional restrictions could be a way to stimulate demand for travel to countries where outbreaks appear to be contained to specific towns or cities.

Meanwhile, the debate over testing at airports continues, with travel industry bosses gathering in Westminster earlier this week as MPs returned to Parliament to raise awareness of the financial damage to the aviation industry caused by ever-changing travel restrictions. With UK airlines and airports announcing thousands of redundancies in recent months, aviation bosses are calling on the government to provide bespoke support to help the sector survive and protect jobs.