Portugal removed and Austria, Croatia and Trinidad & Tobago added to UK quarantine list

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• symon roue says:

  20 Aug20 August 20:03

  Does anyone think Greece, whose economy is so dependant on tourism is doing much testing?

  • david says:

    24 Aug24 August 06:37

    I was there from 11-22 Aug. No testing whatsoever, just fill in greek form and get pr code. Apart from usual places such as supermarkets, we had a stress free time.

• Stu N says:

  20 Aug20 August 20:14

  Foreign travel is basically dead for foreseeable future. It’s just not possible with the uncertainty around restrictions in both home and destination and the risk of dashed hopes and lost money.

  We are currently self-isolating after 2 1/2 in France, we knew the risk was there when we went at the end of July and had agreed we would continue holiday regardless. I don’t regret it – we can work from home so makes no real difference during the week, in effect we have traded two weeks of holiday for two weekends confined to barracks.

  I’m not doing it again, and especially not for a week or less. We have cancelled trips abroad for foreseeable future – it’s going to be a grim winter but until double test becomes an alternative to quarantine I don’t see what else we can do.

• Matt76 says:

  20 Aug20 August 20:27

  I’m in Croatia with my 2 kids. We were lucky to buy the last seat for sale with BA from Dubrovnik to Heathrow for my wife and she flew home this morning. We continue our holiday as planned and come home on Monday. My wife is a teacher and we had to get her home to avoid disruption in the school and being docked pay for not being able the work.
  When we return me and my 2 kids will have to self-isolate for 14 days, whilst my wife who is living in the same house will not. She will be able to go to the shops, go to work ,go to school to teach her children, basically do everything as normal, whereas we are in home lockdown. That just seems bonkers. Who makes these rules up?

  • The Savage Squirrel says:

    20 Aug20 August 20:49

    Well you have to have an arbitrary cutoff somewhere even if you are all currently highly infectious, the rules reduce the onward infectivity risk of your household by 75% which is a lot better than not reducing it… Anyway, as I’ve said many times, these rules aren’t meant to make logical sense on an individual level or provide perfect fairness. They are based on nudge theory at population level. You discourage travel enough and make enough people quarantine on return (even in an imperfect way – like basically just not go back to work or completely take the piss elsewhere) and they will have the desired effect.

    • Paul74 says:

      21 Aug21 August 09:52

      +1

  • Andrew says:

    20 Aug20 August 21:16

    You do realise those aren’t the rules don’t you? If you and the children are quarantining you should not be seeing anybody who isn’t, your wife included.

    Personally I think the rules aren’t necessary in the slightest but you haven’t found a loophole by sending your wife home early. As soon as she comes into contact with you after you return she should not be leaving the house either.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      20 Aug20 August 22:16

      That’s not actually the case.

      Only the person(s) who has returned from abroad have to quarentine. If you live with someone else they don’t have to.

      If you visit https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-how-to-self-isolate-when-you-travel-to-the-uk/coronavirus-covid-19-how-to-self-isolate-when-you-travel-to-the-uk#support-to-help-you-self-isolate-in-your-own-accommodation

      You’ll see it says

      “ Support to help you self-isolate in your own accommodation
      The people you’re staying with do not need to self-isolate, unless they travelled with you or you develop symptoms of coronavirus.”

      • Andrew says:

        21 Aug21 August 06:28

        And the previous section says:
        “You should not have visitors, including friends and family, unless they are providing [certain critical assistance]”

        I agree it’s a little ambiguous. Personally I think the whole thing’s a farce and would only pay the rules lip service but if you’re worried enough to send someone home early at a, presumably, reasonable expense then you may feel differently.

        • Callum says:

          21 Aug21 August 06:44

          And another section says you should avoid contact with other people living with you.

          If you choose to ignore that then there’s not much else the government can do. Are you suggesting you should be placed into forced government quarantine? I don’t think that’s particularly practical – do you

        • TGLoyalty says:

          21 Aug21 August 07:59

          I wouldn’t pay it lip service if I had to turn up to work. Get caught not sticking to the quarentine and you will lose your job.

          Someone living in your house clearly isn’t a visitor. While it says avoid contact it doesn’t say anywhere if there is contact they should quarantine immediately.

  • AJA says:

    21 Aug21 August 10:30

    The government advice is “It’s important to avoid as much contact with other people as possible in your home in order to reduce the risk of transmitting coronavirus. You should stay in a well-ventilated room with a window to the outside that can be opened, separate from other people in your home.”

    You do realise that means your wife needs to sleep in a separate room from you when you return? You should not be sharing the same bedroom. And you should also not be sharing a bathroom or toilet with her.

    • Andrew says:

      21 Aug21 August 13:46

      You’re right that ignoring quarantine would be a sackable offence. Equally I’d expect pretty short shrift from my boss if it came to light that my family were quarantining and I’d been living with them but carrying on as normal whilst going into the office.

  • Dubious says:

    22 Aug22 August 02:18

    Who cares about the loopholes in the rules. Shouldn’t people just do what is right for the benefit of their community, colleagues, students?

• Simon says:

  20 Aug20 August 20:29

  They are saying over 20 cases per 100,000 people over a 7 day period gets you on the list. Austria was on 20.3, what happens next week if it goes back below 20 is it back off the list?

  • TGLoyalty says:

    20 Aug20 August 22:25

    Quarentine Hokey Cokey ?

  • D says:

    21 Aug21 August 05:07

    Do you know where to source this data from?

    • Simon says:

      21 Aug21 August 05:56

      @TGloyalty – Exactly! Portugal goes back up I assume they will be off the list again next week.

      @D – I’m following PPaulCharles on Twitter who is publishing some figures, I’m not sure that is the only criteria, number of tests as well come into it.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        21 Aug21 August 09:17

        I don’t think 20 is the magic number which tops it over as Croatia was hovering around 24/25 even when it was added to the list.

        20+ should be used to assess if there’s a risk of it going on anytime soon. Looks like it’s 30+ before it actually gets added.

• Nick_C says:

  20 Aug20 August 21:08

  Avios availability to Portugal in September pretty much disappeared within about 90 minutes of the announcement.

  And when I was looking at one way from Faro to London for 19/9, Club Europe was cheaper than Economy! (About £200 compared to about £280).

  So some people are booking last minute holidays (without children, presumably).

• Graeme2 says:

  20 Aug20 August 22:56

  Bank holiday weekend in Portugal booked two months ago. Had been in a quandary regarding what to do about quarantine having been told to return to office first week of September. Win!

• Harry T says:

  21 Aug21 August 00:30

  Will be trying to claim my flights to Austria on travel insurance, but managed to grab cheap flights and car hire for Faro. I’m happy for Portugal, as this will be a big boost for their economy.

  Anyone been to the Penha Longa resort near Lisbon? I’m planning a two Centre trip.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    21 Aug21 August 00:36

    No but I’m looking at it mid week between Lisbon and Estoril

    Let me know what it’s like.

    • Harry T says:

      21 Aug21 August 08:37

      Will do! My first time in Portugal. I fancy relaxing a resort as I’ll be having a busy city break in Prague the weekend before. Best of luck with your Portugal plans.

• John O'Sullivan says:

  21 Aug21 August 07:03

  Just back from a trip that included visits to Estoril (5 nights free credit /reward nights at the IC), Cascais, Sintra, Lagos (stayed with friends), last night in Faro (£3.74 following use of a Hotel.com reward night). Total direct cost for accommodation £3.74).

  Cost us £30 odd quid each to get out and as a bonus Easyjet cancelled our return flights (£100 PP) before we left and we re-booked with them for £13PP.

  10 wonderful days/nights away for under £100

  Lagos was busy, mostly people under 50 and families but easy to keep away from crowds. Everywhere else quiet. Facemask compliance around 100%, at least awareness of social distance. Public transport busy but not rammed.

  Upgrade to ocean view room in the IC with drinks for two, 15 Euro credit off Bill, welcome fruit and cakes and water in room. Plat Amb status.

  A beautiful country to visit

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