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Earlier today, the UK Government announced that Portugal will be added to the travel corridor list following a decrease in confirmed cases of coronavirus. Passengers arriving in England from Portugal at or after 4am on Saturday 22 August will not need to self-isolate, so long as they haven’t been in or transited through any other non-exempt countries in the 14 days preceding their arrival.

Unfortunately, if you have booked a holiday to Croatia, Austria or Trinidad & Tobago, the news is not good:

“People arriving into England from Croatia, Trinidad and Tobago and Austria from 4am Saturday 22 August 2020 will need to self-isolate for 2 weeks as the countries are removed from the travel corridors list.

Data from the Joint Biosecurity Centre and Public Health England has indicated a significant change in both the level and pace of confirmed cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) in all 3 destinations, leading to ministers removing these destinations from the current list of travel corridors.”

The Department for Transport has released to following statistics to explain the decision:

“The weekly incidence (cases) per 100,000 for Croatia has increased from 10.4 on 12 August to 27.4 on 19 August (164% increase). There has been a consistent increase in the weekly incidence rate of COVID-19 in Trinidad and Tobago over the past 4 weeks, with a 232% increase in weekly incidence (cases) per 100,000 between 12 and 19 August. In Austria, the weekly incidence (cases) per 100,000 of the population has increased from 10.5 on 13 August to 20.3 on 20 August (93% increase).”

Conclusion

Why it has taken so long for Portugal to be added to the travel corridor list is a bit puzzling, given its relatively low infection rate, but it will certainly come as a relief to many.

The news regarding the other countries though is bound to cause a lot of headaches…

Have you been affected by the new changes to the travel corridor list?