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England is continuing to allow travellers to arrive from Greece without quarantining despite Scotland and Wales acting over concerns of rising coronavirus cases.
Travellers returning to Scotland from Greece must quarantine for 14 days from Thursday amid a surge in coronavirus cases, the Scottish government has announced.
Wales also began asking arrivals from the Greek island of Zante to begin the period of quarantine, with health minister Vaughan Gething pressing for a meeting with the UK government to reconsider the rules for Greece.
The Department for Transport said no change to its rules for England had been made on Tuesday, a move likely to spark confusion for thousands of holidaymakers.
In 2019, Brits made more than three million visits to Greece, making it one of the UK’s most popular holiday destinations.
The move in Scotland and Wales follows an uptick in Covid-19 cases in Greece.
On Sunday, data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control revealed there had been 21.2 coronavirus cases per 100,000 people in Greece over the past 14 days.
In comparison, the rate in the UK was 18.6 cases per 100,000 people.
The decision to make travellers from Greece self-isolate comes just days after France, the Netherlands, Monaco, Malta, Turks & Caicos and Aruba were added to the UK’s quarantine list amid surging levels of Covid-19.
Since the end of July, the government has also advised against “all but essential” travel to Spain, one of the UK’s favourite holiday destinations.
Anyone returning from the country must quarantine for 14 days after arriving home to avoid spreading coronavirus.
Scottish justice secretary Humza Yousaf, announcing the restriction, said the “importations of new cases from Greece is a significant risk to public health”.
He said “regular discussions continue” with the other three UK governments over restrictions.
In Wales, Gething said six clusters amounting to more than 30 cases of Covid-19 in the last week had come from four flights, two of which landed in England.
“There are concerns from our public health teams that the current advice and control measures for returning travellers are insufficient,” he said.
He said that all passengers on a flight from Zante to Cardiff will be told to quarantine and would be given two Covid-19 tests, one within 48 hours and another after eight days from their return.
“In addition, I have pressed for an early meeting with the UK Government and devolved nations tomorrow to consider the latest assessment of risk by the Joint Biosecurity Centre,” he said.
“There is an obvious need for us to consider the potential for changes to the regulations in Wales which would require travellers arriving in the UK from Greece and possibly elsewhere to self-isolate on their return.”
The Joint Biosecurity Centre was yet to change the risk rating for Greece but the data for the nation, like all others, was being kept under constant review.
