All travellers from Croatia, Austria and Trinidad & Tobago entering the UK will now be forced to quarantine to two weeks.
This comes as the number of cases in Croatia has risen to 29.5 cases per 100,000 population against 13.54 cases last week.
The restrictions come into force at 4am on Saturday for all travellers coming back from Croatia, Austria and Trinidad & Tobago.
All travellers heading from Portugal now no longer have to quarantine for two weeks as the country has been removed from the list as cases have fallen below 20 cases per 100,000 population.
Data shows we need to remove Croatia, Austria and Trinidad & Tobago from our list of #coronavirus Travel Corridors to keep infection rates DOWN. If you arrive in the UK after 0400 Saturday from these destinations, you will need to self-isolate for 14 days.
— Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP (@grantshapps) August 20, 2020
Data also shows we can now add Portugal to those countries INCLUDED in Travel Corridors. As with all air bridge countries, please be aware that things can change quickly. Only travel if you are content to unexpectedly 14-day quarantine if required (I speak from experience!)
— Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP (@grantshapps) August 20, 2020
The number of cases in Portugal have dropped in the past week to 14.38 cases per 100,000 population, compared to 15 per 100,000 the week before.
The World Health Organization (WHO) have warned that the Balkans are “very much a sub-regional hotspot” for coronavirus infections over the summer period.
The WHO also warned that Balkans must impose more measures to “nip the transmission in the bud” as coronavirus has been spreading across the region since June.
Dr Catherine Smallwood told a WHO press conference on Thursday, “The situation in the Balkans has been a concern of ours since early June when we started to see cases increase and it’s been very much a sub-regional hotspot over the summer period.”
She added, “We really need communities to take this on board, take the adequate steps both at a country level, in terms of the basic contact tracing, case identification and isolation and testing the systems that need to be in place.
“And then where there are hotspots and increased transmission, additional, targeted measures need to be brought in place, very quickly, to nip transmission in the bud, stop it from spreading and keep the level of transmission at controllable levels.”
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