Travel news latest: Spain and Portugal account for nearly 30 per cent of imported cases

Amber-listed Portugal and Spain account for nearly 30 per cent of all imported coronavirus cases, new data has revealed.

The number of people who tested positive after returning from the two Mediterranean holiday hotspots, between June 10 and 30, were twice as high as arrivals from France.

Scientists claim France is being ‘unfairly targeted’ with travel restrictions, following its lone addition to the ‘amber plus’ list last Friday.

1,800 cases were linked to travellers in June by the NHS Track and Trace service – 277 were linked to Portugal, 252 to Spain and 47 to France.

However, the data reveals the proportion of people returning from foreign trips remains relatively slim. 0.9 per cent of arrivals from newly-green-listed Croatia tested positive on their return to the UK, as did 0.8 per cent of travellers from Portugal, 0.7 per cent from Spain and 0.6 per cent from Greece, while only 0.3 per cent of French arrivals contracted the virus.

Professor Richard Tedder, a virologist at Imperial College London, told MailOnline: “I do not understand what criteria the Government are using to put countries on the amber list, or why France has been singled out when the prevalence of infected people is higher in other countries.”

“There is likely another issue that is not being reported widely,” suggested Professor Gary McLean, an immunologist at London Metropolitan University.

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8:32AM

New Zealand suspends quarantine-free travel with Australia

New Zealand will pause its quarantine-free travel arrangement with Australia for at least eight weeks starting Friday night, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said.

“We’ve always said that our response would evolve as the virus evolved. This is not a decision we have taken lightly, but it is the right decision to keep New Zealanders safe,” Ardern told reporters.

Australia is currently fighting an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta virus variant with 157 new cases reported yesterday. By comparison, New Zealand reported just seven.

8:23AM

Insight: How many people test positive on their return from abroad?

As reported above, new data has revealed the proportion of people testing positive for coronavirus on their return for the UK.

The destinations with the highest rate of people testing positive on return were:

Sierra Leon (6.8 per cent)
Algeria (4.4 per cent)
Indonesia (4.2 per cent).

At the other end of the scale, with the lowest percentage of positive returning cases are:

Lithuania (0.2 per cent)
Jamaica (0.2 per cent)
Hong Kong (0.2 per cent)

8:17AM

Israel to add UK to its red list

Green-listed Israel looks set to ban arrivals from Britain over concerns of rising cases.

The Israeli government is poised to add four more countries to its Covid red list – the UK, Georgia, Cyprus and Turkey – with a decision set to be announced on Sunday, with changes taking effect next Friday.

Travellers arriving in Israel from the UK will face quarantine, regardless of their vaccination status.

It follows news in the past week from other nations who have clamped down on British arrivals, either with outright bans or tougher testing requirements, including Bulgaria and Croatia.

8:09AM

Holidaymakers in airport dash as race to beat next travel list begins

Holidaymakers flying abroad this weekend will be more than double last week’s numbers as travellers race to escape before any further tightening of rules.

Tour operators and airlines reported 100 per cent-plus increases with many last-minute bookings as holidaymakers targeted the Spanish and Greek islands for the start of the school holidays.

It means nearly 400,000 Britons are set to fly out this weekend, making a total of 1.5 million for the week, the highest number so far this year.

Charles Hymas and James Rothwell have the full story here.