COVID-19 quarantine: Travellers arriving in UK from Spanish Canary Islands must isolate from Saturday
Written by News on 10/12/2020
Travellers arriving in the UK from the Spanish Canary Islands will have to quarantine from 4am on Saturday – as the government announces a new ‘test to release’ service will start in England next Tuesday.
The scheme means all passengers coming to England from any areas not in the travel corridor list can shorten their self-isolation time from 14 days to five if they have a negative COVID-19 test result from specific providers.
The decision over the Canaries, announced by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, is a big setback for the UK travel industry, which has been badly hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
Many companies recorded a surge in bookings for the Canary Islands when they were added to the travel corridor list in October.
Mr Shapps said the islands’ removal was due to a rise in weekly COVID-19 cases and positive tests.
He tweeted: “Data indicates weekly cases and positive tests are increasing in the CANARY ISLANDS and so we are REMOVING them from the #TravelCorridor list to reduce the risk of importing COVID-19.
“From 4am Sat 12 Dec, if you arrive from these islands you WILL need to self-isolate.”
Meanwhile, people arriving in the UK from Botswana and Saudi Arabia will not need to isolate after the two countries were put on the travel corridor list.
Mr Shapps tweeted: “BOTSWANA and SAUDI ARABIA have been ADDED to the #TravelCorridor list.
“If you arrive from these places after 4am Sat 12 Dec you do NOT need to self-isolate.”
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Mr Shapps later tweeted of the ‘test to release’ scheme: “From Tues 15th, the new ‘Test to Release’ service for passengers arriving in England starts.
“This means that all passengers from any location NOT in a Travel Corridor may “opt-in” to shorten self-isolation to 5 days with a negative COVID-19 test result from specific providers.”
(c) Sky News 2020: COVID-19 quarantine: Travellers arriving in UK from Spanish Canary Islands must isolate from Saturday
