Belgium and Luxembourg among countries with Covid rates that may lead to return of quarantine

Luxembourg and Belgium are at risk of having quarantine reimposed by the Government as their coronavirus rates rise, an analysis by The Telegraph suggests.

As the Government finalises its weekly review of "air bridges", due on Friday, the analysis shows that both Luxembourg and Belgium have seen week-on-week rises in Covid-19 rates to post-lockdown peaks.

At least four other countries have rising rates, with Croatia also on an unofficial watchlist following the travel chaos sparked when the Government reimposed quarantine on Spain at the weekend, upturning the holiday plans of up to 1.8 million Britons.

On Tuesday, Boris Johnson warned of signs of a "second wave" of coronavirus in Europe as he defended the 14-day quarantine on travellers from Spain.

Belgium has seen its weekly Covid-19 rate rise from 5.3 to 15.1 per 100,000 of the population since the beginning of July, with cases up from 615 to 1,751.

The spike in infections has led to Belgium's government tightening social restrictions to contain the spread of coronavirus.

Sophie Wilmes, the Belgian prime minister, said that, from Wednesday, a family or those living together can meet only the same five people from outside their household over the next four weeks. Antwerp has introduced a curfew.

Luxembourg, which is bordered by Belgium to the north and west, has seen its weekly rates per 100,000 rise from 45.7 to 114.4, with the number of cases up from 286 to 716 in the same period. Use the interactive chart below to explore the infection rate across Europe:

Other countries apparently at risk because of rising rates and post-lockdown peaks are the Bahamas, Monaco, Gibraltar and the Czech Republic.

There is concern within the Government about Croatia, a major holiday destination for Britons, which is in the top 15 of the UK's list of quarantine-free countries with its rate of 12.4 per 100,000. This is, however, down on the previous week's.

Mr Johnson said on Tuesday that the Government had to be "swift" in its response to spikes in coronavirus, and hinted at further action against other countries if necessary.

Speaking during a visit to Nottinghamshire, the Prime Minister said: "What we have to do is take swift and decisive action where we think that the risks are starting to bubble up again.

"Let's be absolutely clear about what's happening in Europe. Amongst some of our European friends, I'm afraid you are starting to see in some places the signs of a second wave of the pandemic."

It came as the UK reported a further 119 coronavirus deaths – taking the official number of deaths so far to 45,878 – but the daily figure is typically higher on Tuesdays due to delays in reporting deaths at the weekend.

Dr Hans Kluge, the World Health Organisation (WHO) regional director for Europe, said there had been a "slight uptick" in new cases in the past couple of weeks in Europe as a result of an increasing number of countries experiencing localised outbreaks.

He said this appeared to be driven by a higher proportion of new infections among young people who "don't want to miss summer" and were more likely to be mixing at parties, bars and clubs.

"They have a responsibility to themselves, parents, grandparents and communities. We do know how important good health behaviours are. Let's take advantage of that knowledge," he said.

It comes as Heathrow's chief executive, John Holland-Kaye, urged the Government to press ahead with airport tests of passengers for Covid-19 to help rescue summer and revive the economy.

"We need to find a way of getting 'red countries' opened up again. Testing is the only viable way of doing that in the absence of a vaccine," Mr Holland-Kaye told The Telegraph in an exclusive interview.

"A lot of countries which are red listed have millions of people who don’t have the disease and can’t travel. That’s holding back economic recovery."