Italy goes on quarantine list forcing Brit holidaymakers to isolate for 14 days on return

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ITALY has been ADDED to the quarantine list and British holidaymakers will have to isolate for 14 days from this weekend, the Transport Secretary announced this evening.

Grant Shapps announced he was slapping travel restrictions on the holiday hotspot this evening which will come into force from 4am on Sunday.

Italy has been slapped with fresh quarantine measures for returning travellers

Grant Shapps announced the changes this evening

Mr Shapps said this evening: “We are REMOVING ITALY, Vatican City state & San Marino from the #TravelCorridor list.

“However, note that the implementation date is moved to 4am on SUNDAY 18 October & applies UK wide, if you arrive from these destinations you will need to self-isolate.”

Italy’s infection rate jumped to 64.4 cases per 100,000 on a 7 day rolling average, with 3.5 per cent of people swabbed testing positive for coronavirus.

The holiday hotspots 14-day rate was 96 cases per 100,000 – a massive 150 per cent higher in the last two weeks.

The number of people in hospital with the virus has also skyrocketed from 4,000 to 6,000 in one week alone.

The are very few European countries which haven’t had quarantine measures slapped on them for Brits to jet off to over the half-term break.

Mr Shapps gave a handful of Greek islands quarantine-free status last week, meaning people coming back from Lesvos, Tinos, Serifos, Santorini and Zante no longer have to self-isolate on return.

But the hopes of both holidaymakers and the travel industry were bolstered yesterday when Mr Shapps suggested the quarantine period could be slashed by an “early release” plan.

Mr Shapps told the virtual ABTA travel industry conference today that travellers will still have to self-isolate at home – but will be able to take a Covid test days after landing, and leave if they test negative.

He said: “We’re proposing a domestic test regime, where people land… have a test and get early release.”

The test must take place “in person”, and will have to be paid for out of passengers’ pockets to prevent holidaymakers taking up crucial NHS resources.

Currently, anyone returning from all but a handful of countries have to self-isolate for 14 days.

Extra measures could also mean travellers could isolate before jetting off, meaning they could holiday to countries that impose quarantine on incoming Brits without having to take weeks off.

Mr Shapps added: “We’re also proposing an internationally recognised system, in which Britain would be a trailblazer, where tests and isolation take place prior to travel and after travel and would require no quarantine.”

He said the measures would likely “result in significantly more people flying in the months ahead”.