Italy and Poland at risk of being added to UK quarantine list following coronavirus case surge

A surge of coronavirus cases in Italy and Poland could see the two European countries removed from the UK Government's safe travel list.

Should the countries be removed from the exemption list, travellers will have to quarantine for 14 days on their return to the UK.

The seven-day rate of new Covid-19 infections per 100,000 people in Italy is now at 20.4, up from 18.4 in the previous week.

Poland also reported 25.9 new cases per 100,000 people, increasing from 15.6 in the week prior.

A seven-day rate of 20 new cases is the threshold above which the UK Government considers triggering quarantine conditions.

A Department for Transport spokeswoman would not comment on whether either country would be taken off the safe travel corridor list.

It comes as Transport Secretary Grant Shapps last Thursday said passengers returning from Denmark, Iceland, Slovakia and the Caribbean island of Curacao would have to self-isolate on their return.

At the time, Denmark was recording a seven-day rate of 65.2 coronavirus cases per 100,000 people, up from 33.8 a week earlier.

Iceland and Slovakia had rates of 80.4 and 25.9 respectively, while Curacao was on 66.7.

The travel industry has been badly hit by quarantine restrictions.

Chris Grayling warned on Monday that the sector is facing “mass job cuts” around the country as it is “barely able to operate” as a result of the virus.

Speaking in the Commons, the Conservative MP said: “It does not need to be like this because there are ways in which we can at least get part of this industry going again.

“I’d call on ministers to work with the industry to do at least a trial of testing at the airport and before people fly.

“I understand their concerns, I understand it may not solve all the problems but nothing we do at the moment is going to be perfect.

“But at least let us try testing on some key routes, track very carefully what happens to the passengers on those routes, see if there really is a problem and establish whether we can make airport testing work to allow the airline industry to get going, not just locally within Europe but some of the international routes that are so important to them.”

Mr Grayling earlier used his speech to warn against a “one-size-fits-all” approach to lockdown unless absolutely necessary, adding: “It’s much easier for all of us to defend what the Government is doing, the difficult steps it’s having to take, if we can see that it’s applying the rules where they are most needed and not applying them where they’re not needed.”

Figures were calculated by the PA news agency based on data collected by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

Additional reporting by PA Media.

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