4 years ago
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By Eleanor Lawrie
BBC News
Published3 days ago
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The UK nations have split over their travel quarantine policies after Wales and Scotland decided to impose restrictions on additional countries.
Why have the nations taken different decisions, and where can you travel to without having to self-isolate on re-entering the UK?
Which countries are now on the quarantine list?
People entering the UK from most countries have to quarantine.
Restrictions have recently been reapplied to several countries which were previously exempt:
How is the quarantine list decided?
The Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC) - set up by the government to monitor coronavirus - works with the chief medical officers of each UK nation and advises which countries should be on its list.
The decision is usually made when 20 or more people out of every 100,000 in a country are infected over seven days, but other factors are also considered. These include:
Why did the nations take different decisions on Portugal and Greece?
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image captionThe nations have split over whether Portugal should go on the quarantine listHealth is a devolved policy, meaning each UK nation sets its own quarantine list. But until recently these have generally been identical.
In early September, Scotland and Wales decided to apply quarantine measures to all or parts of Greece after a number of cases of the virus were traced back to travellers from there.
They also both added Portugal to their quarantine list, after it breached the key threshold of 20 cases per 100,000 people.
But England and Northern Ireland have not applied any quarantine restrictions to travellers from Greece and Portugal.
Transport Minister Grant Shapps has pointed out that Greece's coronavirus infection rate is well below 20 cases per 100,000 people.
Although Portugal has breached that threshold, he suggested the country been doing more testing, and the percentage of those testing positive had fallen from 1.8% to 1.6%.
''We don't want to exclude countries for doing the right thing and carrying out a lot of tests,'' he told the BBC.
Where can I go without quarantining when I get back?
Travellers from countries that pose a "reduced risk" from coronavirus - in the government's eyes - are exempt.
Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Barbados, BES Islands, Cuba, Curaçao, Cyprus, Denmark, Dominica, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Fiji, Finland, French Polynesia, Germany, Greece, Greenland, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Macau, Malaysia, Mauritius, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Réunion, San Marino, Seychelles, South Korea, St Barthélemy, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Pierre and Miquelon, Slovakia, Slovenia, St Vincent and the Grenadine, Taiwan, Turkey, Vatican City, Vietnam
There are separate exemption lists for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Those entering the UK from the common travel area - the Republic of Ireland, the Channel Islands, or the Isle of Man - are exempt, as are the 14 British Overseas Territories.
What if people don't quarantine?
Travellers not self-isolating when they are supposed to can be fined £1,000 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, or £480 in Scotland.
They can be fined up to £3,200 in England if they do not provide accurate contact details, or £1,920 in Wales.
What about restrictions at my destination?
Travellers leaving the UK could still face restrictions - including quarantine - when they arrive in one of the exempted countries. For example, everyone entering Australia needs to quarantine for 14 days, and an exemption visa is required if you are not a resident or a citizen.
