In line with all the positive rumours, Portugal has confirmed that it is indeed welcoming holidaymakers from abroad this year: from the UK, USA and ‘many other places’.
Foreign affairs Minister Augusto Santos Silva actually stated this as much as two weeks ago, but with all the ‘negotiations behind the scenes’ on air bridges/ corridors between countries deemed ‘Covid-secure’ it seems to have got lost in the maelstrom.
International sources picked up on it this week however as Santos Silva returned to the theme, saying he is confident that an air bridge between Portugal and the UK will be in place by end June.
This means the British quarantine measure due to be imposed on anyone flying into the country after next Monday will not apply to passengers returning from Portugal.
Says Euroweekly, “at the moment the list of countries that can fly into Portugal are: USA, Canada, Brazil, UK, Ireland, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, and any other countries where Portuguese is the national language.
Two Schengen Area countries Italy and Spain are not included in the list as they have considerably more coronavirus cases than Portugal, says the online – though this too is likely to change relatively soon as the epidemiological situation in both countries is brightening dramatically.
The Daily Mirror on Wednesday confirmed that British PM Boris Johnson is “in favour of air bridges”. His government is “looking at creating specific exemptions from the quarantine rules”, says the paper (even though quarantine is not yet even in place).
