Denmark, Slovakia, Iceland and Curacao added to quarantine list

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• TGLoyalty says:

  24 Sep24 September 17:37

  Brilliant.

  UK has a higher prevalence than half the globe but still have to quarantine.

  • Nick_C says:

    24 Sep24 September 17:44

    UK has a higher prevalence than half the globe but still have to quarantine if you are coming from a country with a higher rate of infection.

    Denmark’s infections are 40% higher than the UKs.
    Curacao’s are 43% higher.
    Iceland’s are 80% higher.

    Don’t understand Slovakia though.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      24 Sep24 September 17:54

      I was actually referring to the fact no one has been added to the exception list even though they have a lower prevalence

      Canada, South Africa, Bulgaria all lower but haven’t come off for example.

      • Nick_C says:

        24 Sep24 September 18:04

        Good point.

      • Harry T says:

        24 Sep24 September 19:17

        Good point!

      • John says:

        24 Sep24 September 19:20

        They don’t take them off until they have been consistently lower for 4 weeks at least. Look at Portugal which has gone right back up.

        Canada doesn’t want to be taken off and asked Boris not to.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          24 Sep24 September 20:13

          Portugal which is now actually at exactly the same rate as UK

          Canada and Bulgaria have been right down for weeks.

        • Darren says:

          24 Sep24 September 20:31

          Canada is on the exempt list

        • TGLoyalty says:

          24 Sep24 September 21:54

          Canada is off the FCO no travel list but is NOT on the quarantine exemption list.

        • Darren says:

          25 Sep25 September 01:27

          Oh yes it is.

          under Americas, 4th one down.

        • Darren says:

          25 Sep25 September 11:34

          Thanks for the info, apologies.

    • Nick says:

      24 Sep24 September 20:34

      It’s an absolute measure not a relative one though. So it doesn’t matter if the UK is much higher, if the trigger is met (whatever it is) then it’s met. It’s not a zero sum virus, it can be prevalent in two places at once!

      • TGLoyalty says:

        24 Sep24 September 22:05

        The threshold was decided based upon the UKs current position.

        Setting it at 20/100k is nonsense if the UK settles at 40/100k.

        • Callum says:

          24 Sep24 September 22:38

          Its not nonsense, you’re just not understanding that it’s a numbers game and not an exact science…

          Infections absolutely can flow from a country with a low infection rate to a country with a high infection rate – returning tourists from the Greek islands being a perfect example of that.

          Its definitely not a perfect system, but when has anyone ever claimed it is?

        • TGLoyalty says:

          25 Sep25 September 00:17

          Assuming they caught it in zante from a local and not before the 3 patient zeros left, on the plane on the way out or on the way back or after they landed in Heathrow etc or if one of their party was already infected as the flew out and infected them.

          Considering it’s from anywhere between 3-10 days incubation period anyone of those scenarios are plausible.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          25 Sep25 September 00:17

          * Cardiff not Heathrow 🙂

• letBAgonesbe says:

  24 Sep24 September 17:48

  I am about to book a trip to Athens.
  Fly out this Sunday and coming back on Friday.

  This way even if Greece is added to the quarantine list on Thursday, we could still return before it comes into effect on Saturday.

  My only worry is that, whilst the changes normally announced on Thursdays, the Greek islands were announced on a different day (Tuesday I believe), which suggest that anything could happen, anytime.

  • Travel Strong says:

    24 Sep24 September 18:27

    Do it. Do it for all of us who have tried and failed! Live your best life and go down swinging.

  • Jake Mc says:

    24 Sep24 September 18:54

    I read somewhere on the govt website that it could happen at anytime but it would be unlucky to say the least

  • S says:

    24 Sep24 September 19:32

    Yep that’s my concern. Usually announcements on Thursday with effect from 4am on Saturday, but the Greek Island announcements were mid week with much shorter notice period

  • Yvo says:

    24 Sep24 September 19:39

    On the spur of the moment I booked Athens on Monday and flew out this morning. 8:40 from Heathrow was packed.
    Currently looking at the Acropolis from the hotel rooftop bar. Had quarantine come in – it would have been worth it. Athens is busy but everyone is masked indoors and mostly outdoors too.

    • Callum says:

      24 Sep24 September 22:39

      You should see Athens during a normal summer – it seems pretty dead now to me in comparison. Which actually makes it a great time to visit!

      • Yvo says:

        25 Sep25 September 05:48

        Callum, that was exactly my thinking, see the city when it’s not as crazy. I did a food tour last night and the guide was almost in tears about the low level of government support for freelancers and lack of tourists.
        Said people from the UK, France and Germany are still visiting with a trickle from Canada but testing rules from other areas make it impossible for most holidaymakers.

  • Anon says:

    24 Sep24 September 21:39

    I’d say go for it but make sure your travel insurance covers you in case of COVID related issues.

    Regarding quarantine on the way back. It’s unenforced. So long as you don’t go round infecting everyone with the virus deliberately youThe only problem
    you might have is with your employer. If they become aware that you breached quarantine they’d be within their rights to sack you.

    • Nick_C says:

      25 Sep25 September 07:14

      “The only problem you might have is with your employer.”

      Or with law abiding friends, co-workers, or family, who are concerned about the devastating damage this pandemic is causing and who don’t condone Criminal behaviour – even from those they love or are close to.

      • Anna says:

        25 Sep25 September 07:45

        Quite – and I’m pretty sure your employer has a legal duty to report it if you return to work before your quarantine period is up. I mentioned yesterday press reports of people being fined £1k for breaching quaranting, they were both school workers for heaven’s sake – pretty sure they would have been reported by colleagues or parents. I would hope the employer is also looking at disciplinary measures.

      • Anon says:

        25 Sep25 September 08:15

        I think your comment sums up what the government is hoping. They hope that 90% of those who have to quarantine will do so because they think it’s the responsible thing to do and they fear the consequences of breaking the rules abd that those who choose to breach quarantine will do so in only a small and discreet way. If 90% do the quarantine then the policy has a chance of achieving its purpose. In reality there aren’t really any consequences, certainly not for a minor breach. Also, it’ll be interesting to see what happens when the human rights lawyers pick apart these rules and find they breach basic freedoms etc and the government is forced to repay all the fines whether people sacked for breaching quarantine will get their jobs back.

        • Anna says:

          25 Sep25 September 09:15

          Only public sector employers are covered by Human Rights legislation, and disciplinary procedures are entirely separate from criminal proceedings.

        • Anon says:

          25 Sep25 September 09:43

          So if you work in the private sector, you have no human rights? I don’t think so.

• Travel Strong says:

  24 Sep24 September 18:25

  Booked LHR-SLC for April
  Flight cancelled, changed to September
  Flight cancelled, changed to BRS-AMS-SLC
  Flight cancelled, changed to BRS-AMS-BUD
  Flight cancelled, changed to LTN-BTS in Slovakia.
  I was in the clear with 65hrs til boarding!

  Whats the next doomed move? 😅

  • mr_jetlag says:

    24 Sep24 September 20:08

    EDI. let’s see how strong that curse is 😀

• Anon says:

  24 Sep24 September 20:46

  There is no quarantine list. There is an exemption list.

  Interesting that Iceland has been removed from the exemption list given their much lauded ‘test all arrivals at the airport’ strategy. There’s things about how this virus travels that we still don’t understand.

  • Paul Pogba says:

    24 Sep24 September 21:37

    I think we’ve known for a while that you can be incubating after exposure and get a negative test results (and get positive results due to dead/inactive cells after recovery). It’s probably telling us there are no shortcuts if you really want to stop outbreaks.

    If travel keeps being deferred and deterred I’m starting to think the Treasury will have to draw up a plan for a British Leyland style airline group. I’m sure it will be superb without all that inefficient competition.

    • Anon says:

      24 Sep24 September 22:10

      Iceland’s infection rate has shot up to 90.5 per 100 000. However, given that country’s small population it represents less than 400 cases. That includes travellers testing positive in their compulsory test at arrival. I’ve no idea if arriving travellers represents much of Iceland’s total.

  • Sandgrounder says:

    24 Sep24 September 22:43

    Iceland’s strategy was working quite well until they expanded the no test list from Greenland and the Faroes to include Germany and Norway. Since the second test was introduced 25 active cases have been found which had sneaked past the first test. There have been a total of 127 active cases from over 147000 border tests. They always knew it wasn’t foolproof, but it was a way of opening up travel again and limiting transmission. Yes they have 91.1 per 100000 domestic cases in the last 14 days (border screening 4.1), but with one person in hospital they are not doing too bad at the mo. Covid.is has all the data, it’s an interesting read.

• Anon says:

  24 Sep24 September 22:17

  Incidentally, is there any scientific evidence that these quarantines are making any difference? Doesn’t look like it.

  • Nick_C says:

    25 Sep25 September 07:18

    Yes – look at the data for New Zealand.

    • Anon says:

      25 Sep25 September 07:28

      New Zealand has gone the extra step and banned all foreigners as well as imposing quarantine on their own citizens arriving from abroad. Donald Trump banned most foreigners from the US early in the pandemic and it seemed to make little difference.

      Likewise Russia imposed a two week quarantine on all foreign arrivals early in the pandemic but it didn’t make much difference.

      The UK imposed quarantines a while ago now but it hasn’t stopped the second wave.

      The evidence is sketchy to say the least.

      • Renaud says:

        25 Sep25 September 15:19

        Quarantine makes no difference in countries that don’t have other properly enforced measures (restrictions, social distancing and PPE, test-and-trace…), which is pretty much the whole world today.

• patrick C says:

  25 Sep25 September 09:31

  As said before, absolutely useless measure, besides crippling UK tourism nothing has been achieved.
  Your infection risk depends on what you do not where you do it…
  I.e. pubbing in the UK is just as dangerous as in Portugal….

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