France ‘is days away from UK coronavirus quarantine list’ as Boris ‘won’t hesitate’ to extend travel restrictions
FRANCE could be added to the UK's quarantine list within days if coronavirus cases do not begin to fall, a travel expert has claimed.
It comes as Boris Johnson has said ministers will "not hesitate" to impose a quarantine system for travellers from other countries to the UK if needed.
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Downing Street said today that it was keeping a watchful eye on case numbers, testing figures and infection rates in “a number of countries and territories.”
There has been a spike in cases across Europe – with infections rising in the Netherlands and Malta over the last two weeks - meaning they are likely to be the next countries to be removed.
A spokesman for No10 said that a review was taking place weekly, but they can move to remove a nation from the ‘safe list’ if cases increase to an “unacceptable level.”
Although the PM's spokesman was pressed on France, he refused to discuss individual nations.
The Prime Minister’s spokesman said: “We keep data on all countries and territories and any decision by ministers will be informed by health experts.”
Last week Belgium, Andorra and the Bahamas were bumped from the ‘air bridge’ list.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control publishes coronavirus case numbers and deaths per country each day and according to the latest figures, France has a rate of 26 cases per 100,000 people.
Paul Charles, spokesperson for the Quash Quarantine campaign group, told that if the country stays above 20 cases per 100,000 people for more than seven days it is likely to be added to the UK’s quarantine list.
He said: “In the last week its case numbers per 100,000 have increased from 17 (higher than the UK’s at 14) to 26, a jump of 50 per cent.
“I know from senior government sources that anything above 20 per 100,000 for a period of seven days or more is likely to lead to that country being added to the quarantine list.
“On that basis, France has just two days to gets its numbers below 20.”
The latest figures also show that the Netherlands has spiked to 32.5 per 100k, while Malta has soared to 58.6.
Spain was bumped off the list when it hit 39 cases per 100,000.
But the spokesman confirmed that nations with a “sustained” improvement in controlling the virus over a number of weeks – giving hope to Portugal.
The Prime Minister said: "I don't want to advise people about their individual holidays, individual decisions, they should look at the travel advice from the Foreign Office clearly.
"But what I will say, and I hope people would expect us to do this, in the context of a global pandemic, 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 to impose a quarantine system, we will not hesitate to do so.";
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The Sun revealed last week that the holiday destination had met the criteria to come on to the list, but ministers were waiting for a couple of weeks to ensure cases remain low.
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Brits can currently travel to and from France without quarantining on arrival or return, and there are no bans in place.
There are also no entry restrictions regarding coronavirus tests or entry forms needed to be filled out.