Customers braced for new quarantine restrictions as Covid numbers change in Greece and Portugal

Pressure is growing for the Government to consider the 14-day quarantine rule on travellers arriving from Greece amid reports of people returning with Covid-19.

A rise in coronavirus cases prompted the Scottish Government to announce travellers from Greece would have to self-isolate for a fortnight from Thursday, September 3.

In Wales, arrivals from the island of Zante are being instructed to enter quarantine.

The UK’s biggest tour operator Tui has 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.

It comes as rising cases in Portugal were prompting many UK tourists to pay hundreds of pounds to fly home before Saturday, September 5.

In recent weeks, the Department for Transport (DfT) has announced changes to its quarantine exemption list on Thursday nights, with the new rules being imposed on Saturdays at 4am.

In Portugal, the seven-day coronavirus cases rate is 22.7, compared with 14.2 for the previous week.

A seven-day rate of 20 is the threshold above which the UK Government has considered triggering quarantine conditions.

There were 14.3 coronavirus cases per 100,000 people in Greece in the seven days to September 1, up from 14.1 a week earlier and a similar rate to the UK.

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