Portugal is no longer on the list of countries where there are no restrictions on the travel of UK citizens. The decision was officially announced by British Foreign Secretary Grant Sharp after it was taken up by the Boris Johnson government on Thursday.
This conclusion, according to the British government, included the Azores and the Madeira archipelago, which was later clarified.
“This is a difficult decision,” a government official said, justifying Portugal’s decision to drop it from the yellow list, as a way to provide the UK with “the best conditions to define domestically”, with Portugal doubling “from last estimate” to a “rate of positive cases”.
However, through the social networking site Twitter, the Foreign Ministry, led by Augusto Santos Silva, released a statement criticizing the decision. “We take note of the British decision to remove Portugal from the Green Travel List and its logic is unattainable. Portugal continues to pursue its prudent and gradual restructuring program, with clear rules for the safety of its residents or visitors.”, Read it.
Thus Portugal goes on the yellow list, the second of three level controls. In practice, anyone from our country coming to the UK should take two Govt-19 tests, one on the eighth day of their stay in the British territory and the other on the same day they should be isolated for 10 days. This loneliness time can be reduced if people test negative on the fifth day of stay in the UK.
All indications are that this decision will take effect from Tuesday to allow those in Portugal to return without being subject to the new restrictions, although they will have to submit a negative test before boarding, another decision was made two days after the UK arrived.
The move will mainly affect the tourism sector as many Britons have already spent their holidays in our country, so a direct impact on the Portuguese economy is expected.
The first effect of this announcement, which has not yet been officially announced, is the fall in airline shares of travel companies, according to the BBC.
Portugal is the only country on the “green list” in the European Union (EU) that exempts travelers from isolation when they return to the British border, effective May 17.
Thus the list of safe places is reduced to 11 countries and territories, but most are too far away or do not allow tourists to enter such as Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Brunei and the Falkland Islands, leaving Iceland as the most accessible place.
According to the British media, the British government will no longer add any countries to the “green list”, namely Spain, which has removed entry requirements for the UK in the hope that it will stimulate the tourism sector.
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have not yet confirmed, but are expected to follow the guidelines.
Countries where the government bans travel due to the “red list” risk level, 10 days of isolation for arriving in a designated hotel in the UK and at its expense, in addition to the two PCR tests, the second and eighth days of isolation.
The Daily Telegraph reports that the list will include Afghanistan, Sudan, Egypt, Costa Rica, Sri Lanka, Bahrain, Trinidad and Tobago, which already include Brazil, South Africa and India, but also Angola, Mozambique and the Cape Green.
Guinea-Bissau, Sao Tome and Principe, Timor-Leste and Equatorial Guinea are on the “yellow list” where traveling for essential reasons such as holidays is not illegal, but it is strongly discouraged.
The traffic light system is based on four criteria: vaccination rates, number of cases, “regarding variations” and quality of test data.
The news was updated at 6:10 p.m.
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