France, Holland and Malta could be added to UK’s quarantine list while 500,000 Brits are on holiday
MORE than half a million British holidaymakers could be caught up in quarantine change if UK removes travel corridors with France, Holland and Malta.
Infections have risen in the last two weeks — putting holidays there in jeopardy.
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It comes as there are fears that France – where 500,000 Britons are currently on holiday – could be dropped from the list.
The latest figures from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control show France has a rate of 26 cases per 100,000 people.
The Netherlands has spiked to 32.5 while Malta has soared to 58.6. Spain was bumped off the list when the rate hit 39.
No10 is watching case numbers, testing figures and infection rates in “a number of countries and territories”.
A Whitehall source told : "Obviously, rising cases mean the risk of quarantine is more likely. No decisions have been made and we are waiting to see how things change over the week.
"What we would say to holidaymakers is that they need to be aware there is a risk of quarantine coming in at any time. No holiday is necessarily guaranteed."
And PM Boris Johnson said: “We’ve got to keep looking at the data in all the countries to which British people want to travel. Where it is necessary to impose restrictions or a quarantine system, we will not hesitate to do so.”
Last week, Belgium, Andorra and the Bahamas were bumped from the so-called air bridge list.
The PM’s official spokesman said: “We can amend the list at any time. We can remove countries, but if there’s a sustained improvement in the health situation in a particular country we can reinstate exemptions.”
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That gives hope to Portugal. The Sun revealed last week that the holiday destination had met the criteria to be added to the list.
But ministers were waiting a couple of weeks to ensure cases remain low.
No10 said decisions to remove countries from the list were informed by a Joint Biosecurity Centre risk assessment.
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