Public health teams fear that current advice and control measures for returning travellers are insufficient.
After Scotland and Wales introduced new mesures against concerns about rising Covid-19 cases, England is reconsidering having quarantine rules for Greece. The Scottish Government announced that travellers returning from holidays in Greece should have self-isolate for 14 days.
Quarantine restrictions after holidays in Greece
The Department of Transport said there is no change to the rules for England. However, wales’ health minister Vaughan Gething said he would be pressing the UK Government for an urgent meeting to consider the potential risk in Greece.
Restrictions for Greece were lifted in England in July when international exemptions were first permitted.
It happened after there were 14.0 Coronavirus cases per 100,000 people in Greece in the seven days to August 31, down from 14.9 a week earlier. Scottish Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf said the “importations of new cases from Greece is a significant risk to public health”.
Covid-19 cases among passengers
Mr Gething said six clusters with 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 on Tuesday night would be told to quarantine and would be given two Covid-19 tests, one within 48 hours and another eight days after their return. Gething added, “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.”
Meanwhile, tour operator Tui later said it would no longer be offering holidays to the resort of Laganas on Zante from Thursday.
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