British travellers to all countries should be prepared for their holidays to be cancelled under emergency coronavirus quarantine measures, the government has warned.
Ministers this week imposed surprise restrictions on travel between Spain, with two-week quarantines for anyone returning and mass cancellations for anyone with plans.
The last-minute move prompted criticism from Spanish authorities, who say outbreaks are localised and that the measures are disproportionate. Tour operators have also said the lack of warning given was “challenging”.
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But Helen Whately, health minister, said similar surprise measures could follow for other countries if data showed they were necessary.
“What we are saying to people who are planning trips abroad is you need to keep an eye on the Foreign Office guidance, that you need to be aware of your tour operator’s policies and the travel insurance, and be mindful that we are in a global pandemic,” she told the BBC.
“It is the right thing for us to do as a country to keep an eye on the rates of these countries. If we see something going on like we’ve seen in Spain we would have to take action.”
Asked whether any country could be affected, the minister said: “We have to do the thing that is the right thing for the health of the country. We’re in a pandemic. What we don’t want to see a second spike, we don’t want to see cases of coronavirus going up in the Winter, particularly we have to keep the rate under control in the UK, so that has to be our priority.”
On Sunday Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the government couldn’t “give a guarantee” that holidays could go ahead and that there was “an element of uncertainty this summer if people go abroad”.
The move could lead to second thoughts among would-be holidaymakers about whether to go abroad at all – and travel industry figures have warned the decision could have knock-on affects on the viability of some companies.
Andrew Flintham, managing director of TUI, Britain’s latest travel operator, said: “What we’d really like – and I think we are going to need this going forward as the world evolves – is a nuanced policy.”
Labour shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth criticised the Government’s handling of the affair as “frankly shambolic” and called for financial support for those facing quarantine.
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Federal officers launch tear gas at a group of demonstrators during a Black Lives Matter protest outside the Portland Courthouse
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Rescue forces in action after an ultralight aircraft crashed into a house in Wesel, Germany
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Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan (C) and invited guests attending Friday prayers at Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque during the official opening ceremony of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul
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A trader decorates a camel with Henna at a cattle market set up for the upcoming Muslim festival Eid al-Adha also called “Festival of the Sacrifice”, in Rawalpindi
AFP via Getty
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The Milky Way galaxy is seen in the sky above the International Car Forest of the Last Church in Goldfield, Nevada. The roadside attraction, created in 2002 by Mark Rippie, has over 36 automobiles including cars, trucks, vans and buses that have been balanced on their ends or stacked on top one of another
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9/50 18 July 2020
Revellers take part in the annual Gay Pride parade, also called Christopher Street Day in Frankfurt
Reuters
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TT News Agency/Reuters
11/50 16 July 2020
Farmers protest outside the Indonesian Parliament against the cancellation of an ‘omnibus bill’ that aims to revise dozens of existing laws to ease the way for investment in Southeast Asia’s largest economy in Jakarta
Reuters
12/50 15 July 2020
Flooding in Sunamganj. Almost four million people have been hit by monsoon floods in South Asia, with a third of Bangladesh already underwater from some of the heaviest rains in a decade
AFP via Getty
13/50 14 July 2020
Second Republican infantry guard regiment take part in the annual Bastille Day military ceremony on the Place de la Concorde in Paris
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A man walks his dog through thick sea foam blowing ashore during a storm in Seapoint, Cape Town, South Africa
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Security forces on the outskirts of Amritsar take part in Van Mahotsav, an annual tree-planting festival in India
AFP via Getty
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People covered with coloured powder enjoy music during the Holi festival in Minsk, Belarus
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A demonstrator during clashes following the funeral of 29-year-old Palestinian Ibrahim Abou Yacoub, who was killed by Israeli forces, in the village of Kifl Hares, south of the West Bank city of Nablus
AFP via Getty
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The sun rises in Timmendorfer Strand, northern Germany
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Portraits of healthcare workers are pasted on the Opera Bastille, designed by Anne-Christine Poujoulat, to pay tribute to caregivers during the Covid-19 pandemic in Paris
Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP/Getty
20/50 7 July 2020
Tengger tribe people make their way to the summit of Mount Bromo volcano to make offerings in Probolinggo, as part of the Yadnya Kasada Festival. The Tenggerese climb the active volcano to seek the blessing from the main deity by presenting offerings of rice, fruit, livestock and other items
AFP via Getty
21/50 6 July 2020
A healthcare worker checks the temperature of residents during a check-up campaign in Mumbai, India
Reuters
22/50 5 July 2020
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AP
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Protesters blocking an exit to the precinct of the officers who arrested Elijah McClain, cover their ears anticipating the use of flash-bang grenades by police in Aurora, Colorado
Reuters
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A member of the Israeli border police jumps during a Palestinian protest against Israel’s plan to annex parts of the West Bank, in Kafr Qaddum near Nablus
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A surfer jumps clear of his board while enjoying winter waves at New Brighton Beach in Christchurch, New Zealand
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A man is detained by riot police during a demonstration in Hong Kong. China imposed a new national security law which has faced international condemnation
Getty
27/50 30 June 2020
A man smokes a pipe while wearing a face mask during a demonstration in Nantes, as part of a nationwide day of protests to demand better working conditions for health workers in France
AFP via Getty
28/50 29 June 2020
Lawmakers from Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party scuffle with people from the main opposition Kuomintang party, who have been occupying the Legislature Yuan, in Taipei
Reuters
29/50 28 June 2020
Protester holds crosses during a demonstration in honour of the victims of coronavirus in front of Brazil’s National Congress
Getty
30/50 27 June 2020
A demonstrator wearing a face mask holds a sign during a protest against police brutality and racial inequality in the aftermath of the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd, at the Victory column in Berlin
Reuters
31/50 26 June 2020
Hygienists inside a decontamination area in a coronavirus treatment centre that cares for positive patients that show little or no symptoms in Dakar
AFP via Getty
32/50 25 June 2020
A seagull snatches a croissant from a buffet during a press conference at the headquarters of AP Moeller – Maersk in Copenhagen, Denmark
Ritzau Scanpix/AFP/Getty
33/50 24 June 2020
A volunteer receives an injection from a medical worker during the country’s first human clinical trial for a potential vaccine against coronavirus, at the Baragwanath hospital in Soweto, South Africa
Reuters
34/50 23 June 2020
Swiss acrobat Ramon Kathriner performs during the “Glacier 3000” Air show, an event marking the reopening of the Alpine facilities above Les Diablerets
AFP via Getty
35/50 22 June 2020
A worker cleans volcanic ash off the stupas at the Borobudur temple in Indonesia, a day after Mount Merapi erupted in nearby Sleman, sending a plume of ash into the sky
AFP via Getty
36/50 21 June 2020
Aerial view of a burial at the Vila Formosa cemetery during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on June 21, 2020. – The novel coronavirus has killed at least 464,423 people worldwide since the outbreak began in China last December, being Brazil Latin America’s worsthit country with 49,976 deaths from 1,067,579 cases.
AFP via Getty
37/50 20 June 2020
National Guards form a line in front of “Black Lives Matter” protestors in Tulsa, Oklahoma where Donald Trump was holding a campaign rally
AFP via Getty
38/50 19 June 2020
Nurses, doctors, midwives and health care workers attend the fourth Zumba dance session organised by the Nursing Council of Kenya at Kenyatta stadium where screening booths and an isolation field hospital have been installed. The dance sessions have been organised to re-energise and uplift health care providers sprits during this pandemic
AFP via Getty
39/50 18 June 2020
Alpha jets from the French Air Force Patrouille de France and the Royal Air Force Red Arrows perform a flypast over the statue of Charles de Gaulle on the Champs Elysees avenue in Paris to celebrate the 80th anniversary of wartime leader’s appeal to the French people to resist the Nazi occupation, broadcast from London
Reuters
40/50 17 June 2020
Activists from the Extinction Rebellion movement block a street outside the German Automobile industry association during a protest in Berlin
AFP via Getty
41/50 16 June 2020
Barbers wearing protective suits and face masks inside a salon in Dhaka, Bangladesh
Reuters
42/50 15 June 2020
Siegfried White raises his hand as he protests outside a burned Wendy’s restaurant on the third day following Rayshard Brooks death. The black man was shot by police in the car park in Atlanta. The mayor ordered immediate police reforms on Monday after the fatal shooting by a white officer
AFP via Getty
43/50 14 June 2020
People take part in a Black Lives Matter protest march in central Tokyo
AFP via Getty
44/50 13 June 2020
Protesters raise their fists during a demonstration against police brutality and racism in Paris, France. The march was organised by supporters of Assa Traore, whose brother Adama died in police custody in 2016, in circumstances that remain unclear
EPA
45/50 12 June 2020
A pro-democracy supporter shouts at riot police during an anti-national security law rally in Mongkok district in Hong Kong, China. Protesters heeded online calls to gather as the city marks the one-year anniversary of the major clashes between police and pro-democracy demonstrators over the controversial extradition bill
Getty
46/50 11 June 2020
A section of the River Spree next to the Reichstag building coloured green by activists from “Extinction Rebellion” to protest the German government’s coal policies in Berlin
AFP via Getty
47/50 10 June 2020
A woman poses in front of a decapitated statue of Christopher Columbus at Christopher Columbus Park in Boston Massachusetts. The statue’s head, damaged overnight, was recovered by the Boston Police Department, as a movement to remove statues commemorating slavers and colonisers continues to sweep across the US
AFP via Getty
48/50 9 June 2020
Ivy McGregor, left, reads a resolution during the funeral for George Floyd at The Fountain of Praise church in Houston. George Floyd is being laid to rest in his hometown, the culmination of a long farewell to the 46-year-old African American whose death in custody ignited global protests against police brutality and racism
AFP via Getty
49/50 8 June 2020
People raise their fist and stand on their knees as they demonstrate in Nantes, during a Black Lives Matter protest
AFP via Getty
50/50 7 June 2020
A woman looks on during a protest against the killing of George Floyd in Osaka city, western Japan
EPA
Transport minister Grant Shapps was among those caught up in the last-minute restrictions, as he was holidaying in Spain with his family at the time of the announcement.
Other countries have taken a more localised approach to imposing restrictions on Spain, with Belgium banning travel to Huesca and Lleida, and Germany advising against visits to some regions. France has “strongly recommended” against travel to Catalonia, while Norway has imposed a 10-day quarantine on all travellers returning from the country.
