Further doubt has been cast on Britons’ hopes of taking overseas holidays this summer after the Foreign Office advised against all but essential trips to the popular Balearic and Canary Islands, and Downing Street warned that “no travel is risk-free” during the coronavirus pandemic.
The warning against all non-essential trips brought the sun, sea and sand resort destinations in line with mainland Spain, in an effective snub to Madrid, which had been pleading for an “air bridge” to protect the islands’ tourism-dependent economies after Saturday’s imposition of a 14-day quarantine on travellers from the country.
But it is likely to make it easier for families who have booked holidays on the Balearics – Mallorca, Ibiza and Menorca – and Canaries to claim their money back from tour operators, airlines and insurers.
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Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, said the quarantine measures were unfair and that Madrid was trying to persuade the UK to change its mind. Britain’s “error” was to consider Spain’s coronavirus rate as a whole, when most areas have lower infections than the UK, he said.
Meanwhile, Britons were left uncertain as to the wisdom of booking trips elsewhere in Europe after Boris Johnson’s official spokesperson made clear that quarantines could be restored on travellers from other countries just as rapidly as occurred with Spain. New restrictions were imposed for the country on Saturday just a day after the UK was alerted to a spike of infections. In response to the new rules, Jet2 has cancelled all its flights and package holidays to Spain until mid-August.
Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, announced he would fly home early from his own Spanish holiday on Wednesday. It is understood that he departed for his holiday on Saturday morning after being informed that a new quarantine might be needed, but felt it would not be right for him to take advantage of inside information unavailable to other holidaymakers.
“The sooner I get back from Spain myself, the sooner I can get through quarantine,” said Mr Shapps.
On Monday night, The Daily Telegraph reported that ministers were considering a plan to cut the 14-day quarantine to 10. Under the scheme returning travellers would be tested eight days after landing, and allowed out two days after that if their result came back negative.
Mr Johnson was coming under increasing pressure to provide financial support for holidaymakers forced to stay at home for a fortnight after their return.
Downing Street issued a call for employers to be “flexible” with quarantined staff, but said there were no plans to make holidaymakers eligible for statutory sick pay and said they may be forced to apply for welfare benefits like universal credit or employment and support allowance (ESA), which could be worth as little as £74 a week while claims are being assessed.
Anneliese Dodds, the shadow chancellor, accused the government of an “abdication of responsibility”, while TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said those under quarantine should be paid at least the real living wage rate of £320 a week.
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Spain’s hard-hit hotels have offered to pay for foreign tourists to take coronavirus tests in a bid to lure back visitors put off by the wave of fresh cases and the UK quarantine decision, which was criticised by trade association CEHAT as “not only unjust but totally illogical and lacking in rigour”.
Angel Victor Torres, president of the Canary Islands, said that “common sense” dictated eliminating quarantine for UK visitors to the islands, which he said were not experiencing the same flare-up of coronavirus cases seen in areas like Catalonia and “cannot survive without opening up to the outside”.
And Valencian regional leader Ximo Puig said: “Our epidemiological data are better than the UK’s. I don’t understand why you would make a decision like this with such a broad brushstroke.”
Travellers returning from Spain expressed their frustration and resignation at the short-notice quarantine requirements.
Joe Allen, a TV producer from London, told the PA news agency on his return from Madrid: “What would have been useful is for someone who made it clear in advance – ‘There is a real possibility that you could get stopped from coming home’. You can argue that I was naive for not knowing that, but I think it might have been helpful.”
And Sophia Fadil, from Brighton, who was made redundant during lockdown from her travel job said the move was a “slap in the face” for the industry.
“I think this was outrageous that the government finally confirmed it three hours before it was implemented,” she said.
A spokesperson for Abta, the travel association, said: “No specific information has been shared by the government as to the precise criteria or infection rates being used to determine policy positions.”
Abta said the move was “making it impossible for travel businesses to make more effective business decisions” and warned that stop-start decisions were proving expensive.
Whitehall sources played down the prospect of an imminent restoration of quarantine measures for countries like France or Germany, where Covid-19 infection rates are currently running significantly lower than in Spain.
Spain has recorded 39.4 cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 inhabitants over the past two weeks, compared to 14.6 per 100,000 in both the UK and France, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
But Mr Johnson’s spokesperson made clear ministers were ready to act decisively if data reveals fresh spikes of the disease. Recommendations will be made by Public Health England and the Joint Biosecurity Centre on the basis of the number of cases per 100,000 and factors such as the rate of increase, mortality figures, the country’s testing capacity and the UK’s assessment of the reliability of its data, the spokesperson said.
Figures received on Friday from Spain’s health ministry showing new cases up 75 per cent prompted a PHE and JBC recommendation for renewed quarantine, which was approved by ministers including Mr Shapps, foreign secretary Dominic Raab and Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove on Saturday.
Asked what the government’s advice would be to anyone considering a trip abroad to one of the countries on which quarantine was lifted earlier this month, Mr Johnson’s spokesperson replied: “No travel is risk-free and disruption is possible and anyone travelling abroad should be aware that our travel advice and exemption list is under constant review as we monitor the international situation.”
Spain’s tourism minister, Reyes Maroto, said on Monday that there had been “conversations since the weekend with the British authorities about dropping quarantine for those visiting the [Balearic and Canary] islands as soon as possible”.
Ms Maroto also said the government was providing the UK with epidemiological updates about each of Spain’s 17 regions, adding that six of them were currently in a better epidemiological situation than the UK.
But this did not stop the Foreign Office extending its advice against all but non-essential travel to cover the islands.
The PM’s spokesperson said the government was not making statutory sick pay available to those returning from Spain, but hoped employers will be “flexible” in allowing staff to work from home while self-isolating.
“Where this isn’t possible we would expect that many employers would have their own policies in place for quarantine and we know that some continue to offer full pay for all or some of the isolation period,” he added.
“But if there are people who need urgent support then they may be entitled to the new-style employment support allowance or universal credit.”
But Ms Dodds retorted: “The government knows you can’t live on less than £100 a week if you have to self-isolate with Covid-19, but it’s done nothing to boost sick pay in over four months.
“Now it’s telling returning holidaymakers to self-isolate without any support. Once again ministers are just crossing their fingers and hoping employers will do the right thing.
“It’s another abdication of responsibility from a government that can’t get a grip on this health crisis.”
And Ms O’Grady said: “No one should suffer financially for following official advice to quarantine. Wherever possible, employers should do the right thing and pay quarantined workers their full pay.
“The government must also make it clear that people who can’t work from home during quarantine will be eligible for statutory sick pay. And they should increase sick pay from £95 a week to at least the level of the real living wage of £320 a week.”
ESA payments are worth up to £74 a week while a claim is being assessed. Universal credit is paid at up to £410 a month for a single person and £594 for a couple, with lower rates for under-25s.
