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Switzerland, Jamaica and Czech Republic removed from safe list
Switzerland, Jamaica and the Czech Republic have become the latest countries removed from the government’s travel safe list.
Travellers returning from all three countries after 4am on Saturday must quarantine for 14 days, transport secretary Grant Shapps said.
The FCO has also warned against all but essential travel to the destinations.
But Cuba has been added to the travel corridor following a decrease in Covid cases.
The removal of Switzerland, Jamaica and the Czech Republic came as the trio of nations exceeded the 20 cases per 100,000 threshold set by the government.
Scotland had been removed Switzerland last week.
Data revealed a consistent rise in cases over the past four weeks, with a 19% increase in weekly cases per 100,000 people, from 18.5 on 20 August to 22 per 100,000 on 27 August.
In the Czech Republic cases climbed 25% between 14 August and 20 August, from 1,723 to 2,153.
In Jamaica, weekly cases climbed sharply from 4.3 per 100,000 on 20 August to 20.8 on 27 August.
While the impact for the travel industry will not be as severe as recent decisions to remove Spain, France and Croatia, it again emphasises the government’s strict approach.
ABTA again criticised the quarantine strategy.
"As long as quarantine remains the principal strategy in the Government’s containment of Covid-19, the travel industry will continue to suffer," a spokesperson said. "Given the rapid change in infection rates in different areas, it is vital the Government moves as quickly as possible to assess risk on a regionalised, not whole-country basis.
"Only by doing this will we be able to minimise the impact on consumer confidence to book and to travel, and minimise the impact on an industry that has already seen 90,000 livelihoods affected."
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