Greece added to Scotland quarantine list

Tui, meanwhile, will halt all trips to the Zante resort of Laganas from Thursday (3 September) after several clusters of coronavirus cases, including a number in Wales, were linked to travel to the resort, which is popular with younger travellers.

Travellers arriving home to Wales from Zante are now being asked to self-isolate for 14 days, with health minister Vaughan Gething stating there were six clusters of cases, amounting to 30 infections, linked to flights to and from Zante.

Greece remains on England’s quarantine-free travel list, with the home nations free to determine their own policy on country-specific quarantine rules.

The UK government is expected, once again, to review its travel corridor list on Thursday, with Portugal at risk of having its travel corridor revoked just a fortnight after it was granted.

Both Greece and Italy, however, remain well below the 20 cases per 100,000 over seven days measure the government is using to determine its travel corridor policy. Bulgaria’s rate of infection according to this measure is now well below the 20-case threshold.

In a statement, the Scottish government said evidence of the virus being reimported, "especially from Greece’s islands", had resulted in the country’s expulsion from its travel corridor list, despite prevalence of the virus in Greece currently remaining lower than 20 per 100,000.

"However, a number of cases of the virus in Scotland can be traced back to travel to Greece," said the government.

Scottish justice secretary Humza Yousef said: “We are in the midst of a global pandemic and the situation in many countries can change suddenly. Therefore, people should think very hard before committing to non-essential travel abroad.

"With Scotland’s relatively low infection rate, importation of new cases from Greece is a significant risk to public health. I would also encourage people who have returned to Scotland from Greece in the last few days to be particularly careful in their social contacts.

The country’s chief medical officer Gregor Smith added: “There is a compelling public health risk around importation of the virus, especially given the number of imported cases linked to the Greek islands.

“The flow of travel between Scotland and Greece, and the behaviour we have seen from some of those travellers, means that on public health grounds there is a strong case – supported by public health directors – to remove Greece from the exemption list.”

’Hokey cokey’

Smith’s comments echo those of Tui managing director Andrew Flintham, who said Tui’s decision to suspend trips to Laganas in Zante was based on the failure of some clients to adhere to social distancing rules and other Covid safety measures.

Any Tui customers due to travel to Greece from Scotland will be able to amend or cancel their holiday, the operator has confirmed.

Tibbert added: "Although the Scottish government has warned that the so-called safe list is fluid and flexible and can change at any time, we’re extremely concerned about the workload that is being put on our travel agent members with each change.

"Travellers naturally do not want to lose out on a holiday they have paid for and many have made multiple changes to their destinations and dates throughout the safe list/quarantine changes. Our members have made these changes for clients often with very little notice, sometimes overnight and always under extreme pressure. Our members receive no income for making these changes.

"The removal of Greece in this ongoing hokey cokey of countries which are ‘in or out’ means it’s impossible for Scots to plan or reorganise a holiday which they have already paid for. And equally impossible for our members to run a business."