Thousands of Britons saw flights from seven Greek islands added to the government’s red list today as they face a desperate race to return home to exceed the quarantine deadline.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps revealed monday that Lesbos, Tinos, Serifos, Mykonos, Crete, Santorini and Zakynthos were stripped of their quarantine exemption on Wednesday at four a. m. amid fears of an increase in coronavirus cases.
Since the announcement, tourists have struggled to make choice plans, with many frantic last minute flight bookings so as not to have to isolate themselves for two weeks once they return to Britain.
However, tourists are reporting massive increases in value for their return trips, and some have to pay 3 times more than expected.
Others face a dramatic race opposite time, with a visitor flight landing at 4:20 a. m. , while counter Julie Frew has a tight 3-hour window between her scheduled arrival in Birmingham and the deadline.
The 46-year-old man has been in Crete for about two weeks with his 48-year-old spouse David Wort, and fears that any slight delay in return could mean that she and her daughter, Lauren, 23, will have to. quarantined. Two young men who must return to day care in the coming days.
She told MailOnline: ‘It will be a case of nail biting for the next 24 hours.
Julie Frew and David Wort arrive in the UK 3 hours before the quarantine deadline and worry about the consequences of a flight delay.
The graph shows very high flights from Zakynthos to Birmingham after Monday’s announcement
The graph shows very high flights from Santorini to Manchester after Monday’s announcement
“I don’t perceive it, because it’s actually safer here than in the UK.
It is very quiet, there is hardly anyone in the bevery onees, all the staff wear masks and there are hand sanitizers on every table.
It’s not like it’s a holiday island, everything stops at midnight, and I think only one or two cases a day have been reported in recent weeks compared to our thousands; we had no worries about coming here.
“The government just doesn’t seem to know what it’s doing, it’s citing other numbers and it’s like it’s playing Russian roulette.
We are very angry and frustrated by this because we follow the regulations during lockdown and feel we could be punished.
We have been waiting for this vacation for months and it is a well deserved break from a very difficult year.
Fortunately, none of us are in a position where we would lose a task or pay due to quarantine, however, many others face this threat’.
Beth Maybury, 24, of Leeds, echoed Frew’s view that life in Crete is more comfortable than in the UK.
She said: “We feel a hundred percent safer here than at Leeds, as all workers wear masks and spaces are much less congested.
The bars, etc. , seem much quieter, the hotel doesn’t even seem to be part of its capacity, so there is plenty of space around the pool/beach. Turns out there’s a lot more awareness in terms of masks.
We live near White Rose (grocery shopping center) in Leeds, which has been constant, other people ignore the social distance when buying food and going out to eat.
It makes me nervous to go out for a drink or have a drink in the UK because there are too many people without anyone following the rules, which is (the) contrary to how I feel here.
I worked along the lock because I’m a key employee and I was so nervous about doing anything outside of work. I had to fly 4 hours to feel comfortable doing anything.
The shipping secretary that Lesbos, Tinos, Serifos, Mykonos, Crete (pictured), Santorini and Zakynthos were added to the “red” list from 4am on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Fiona Perrin, who is celebrating her tenth birthday with her husband Alan O’Reilly on the island, booked a pre-home flight, but had to do more than three times the initial cost.
She said, “We were making plans to return on Wednesday and we thought everything would be fine, as the quarantine list is announced later in the week. “
It was just the surprise of seeing the increase in value before our eyes, literally when I was going to get my credit card, I looked up and I had climbed again, it’s amazing.
We have to repaint and because we are renovating a house, which is six months behind Covid and we don’t need to close ours again.
“Fortunately, in our case, it’s not too catastrophic, but I think there will be a lot of other people who will have to go two weeks without pay. “
In his announcement in the Commons, Shapps said he does not follow Scotland’s example by imposing restrictions on arrivals from Greece as a whole.
The sad news came when the pantry minister revealed that the quarantine formula for England was being revised to reflect the other threat profile presented across some islands.
The Joint Biosafety Center will now read about the islands from your continent whenever possible.
“For the first time, we have the knowledge and ability to load and eliminate fast-quarantine islands while providing maximum coverage to the public,” he told MPs.
However, despite the Secretary of Transport’s decision to raise more destinations to the ‘red’ list, England’s technique at 40 remains less serious than Scotland and Wales. Scotland has imposed about 40 trips on the total of Greece, while Wales has banned more Greek Islands.
Greece as a whole is still well below the threshold of UK quarantine measures; however, some Greek islands have a higher number of cases.
Matt Hancock insisted today that coronavirus testing for UK arrivals be carried out as soon as possible.
The health secretary said the government identified the extent to which the 40-day requirement weighed on the industry.
He warned that making a bachelor at the airport “wasn’t working” because too many asymptomatic cases would be lost.
But he showed that the government is executing a plan to control arrivals after about 8 days, which could halve the quarantine period.
“This is one of the things we’re looking to be in as soon as imaginable,” Hancock told LBC radio.
Ministers have been shaken by the conservatives’ growing anger at disastrous quarantine policy, claiming that 110,000 aviation-like jobs are at stake.
The arrangements have been additional as the number of cases in the UK is now reaching the threshold where it imposes isolation regulations in other countries.
The government is contemplating two features to open up the skies and save covid’s devastated economy.
As a component of the former, passengers would pass through an airport checkpoint upon arrival, followed by a moment control a few days later. The option at the moment is for a bachelor control after five to 8 days of self-de-insulation.
But aviation chiefs are furious at slow progress and need a company commitment to the border until the end of the week.
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