Portugal has finally been added to the UK’s travel corridor list today, meaning arrivals from the country will no longer be required to quarantine for 14 days.
The news has been confirmed in a series of Tweets by British Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps.
“Data shows we need to remove Croatia, Austria and Trinidad & Tobago from our list of #coronavirus Travel Corridors to keep infection rates DOWN. If you arrive in the UK after 0400 Saturday from these destinations, you will need to self-isolate for 14 days,” he said in the first Tweet.
“Data also shows we can now add Portugal to those countries INCLUDED in Travel Corridors. As with all air bridge countries, please be aware that things can change quickly. Only travel if you are content to unexpectedly 14-day quarantine if required (I speak from experience!),” he added.
Schapps explained that a “range of factors are taken into account when JBC & Ministers assess Travel Corridors – including but not limited to: estimated prevalence of COVID-19 in a country; the level and rate of change in the incidence of confirmed positive cases; the extent of testing in a country; the testing regime and test positivity; the extent to which cases can be accounted for by a contained outbreak as opposed to more general transmission in the community; government actions; and other relevant epidemiological information.”
Portugal has been battling for weeks to be included in the UK’s travel corridor. A report by Expresso newspaper last weekend showed Portugal was the “only country on Britain’s ‘travel blacklist’ where case numbers are below the European average”. (click here).
