Coronavirus: Switzerland, Czech Republic and Jamaica added to quarantine list

Travellers arriving in the UK from Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Jamaica will have to quarantine from 4am on Saturday.

The new restrictions are coming into force in a bid to stem the spread of coronavirus.

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Cuba, however, is being added to the list of countries exempt from quarantine.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the decisions were “carefully made” after research from the Joint Biosecurity Centre.

Holidaymakers hoping to squeeze in a break before the end of summer have had to wait nervously each week for the decision about changes to the so-called “travel corridors”.

Switzerland had been expected to be added to the quarantine list, after more than 300 new cases were recently reported in a 24-hour period – the highest increase since mid-April.

The Czech Republic has also seen a 25% increase in cases in the last week and Jamaica‘s infections have shot up from 4.3 per 100,000 people to 20.8 in the past seven days, according to data cited by the Department for Transport.

The UK government says countries which see infections rise above 20 per 100,000 people in a week are of particular concern.

Scotland added Switzerland to its quarantine list last week, but otherwise made the same changes as England and Northern Ireland on Thursday.

Wales has adopted the same policies – and also added Singapore to its list of countries where travellers arriving from are exempt from quarantine.

Tourists to Spain were hit last month by the decision to advise against all but non-essential travel to the mainland and popular islands.

Then travellers to France were given just a few days’ notice that they would face a 14-day quarantine upon their return home earlier in August.

But so far, just 10 fines have been issued to people who broke COVID-19 travel quarantine rules, according to the latest figures.

Nine of the fixed penalty notices (FPNs) were handed out by Border Force officials at the border and one was given by the police.

The Border Force can issue FPNs of between £100 and £1,000 to those who break government rules on the completion of passenger locator forms.

Across the UK, the latest daily update showed 12 more people have died with coronavirus – taking the total to 41,477.

(c) Sky News 2020: Coronavirus: Switzerland, Czech Republic and Jamaica added to quarantine list