UK lifts quarantine requirements for arrivals from 59 countries except US, Portugal, China

The UK government on Friday lifted quarantine requirements for people arriving from 59 countries, except for China, US, Sweden and Portugal. The relaxations will come into effect on July 10.

"The government is satisfied that it is now safe to ease these measures in England and has introduced travel corridors for some countries and territories," the UK's Department for Transport said. "This applies to all travel to England, by train, ferry, coach, air or any other route," it added

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Countries including Greece, Spain, France and Belgium are on the list of "travel corridors," meaning arrivals from those countries will not have to isolate for 14 days. People coming from the US will have to undergo self-isolation for 14 days after entering the UK. Earlier, the European Union had decided not to include the US from its list of nations approved for entry.

As per the latest update, a total of 2,788,395 people in the United States have tested positive of coronavirus, and 129,306 deaths have been reported to date.

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Portugal calls move 'senseless'

The Portuguese government said on Friday the United Kingdom's decision to leave Portugal out of a quarantine-free list was "senseless," but the country would not change its welcoming policy towards British nationals.

Speaking at a press conference in Lisbon, Interior Minister Eduardo Cabrita said that to spend a holiday in Portugal was "one of the best safe options that a British citizen may undertake" and wished well to the long time partner country in fighting the pandemic.

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By moving quickly during the pandemic's early days, Portugal avoided the exponential rates of infections and deaths reported by other European Union countries, including neighbouring Spain. But since emerging on May 2 from a state of emergency and 45-day lockdown, the country has recorded an average of 275 new cases a day.

On Friday, it reported 374 — again most of them in the Lisbon metropolitan area. Overall, Portugal has reported just over 43,156 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 1,598 deaths. By comparison, the United Kingdom had confirmed 283 757 cases and 43 995 deaths by Friday, according to the European Centre for Disease Control.

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(With agency inputs)