www.telegraph.co.uk./news/2020/08/19/exclusive-croatia-go-uks-quarantine-red-list-infection-rate/
Croatia is set to be ditched from the Government’s quarantine-free list of holiday destinations on Thursday, giving up to 20,000 Britons just 30 hours to return to the UK to avoid having to self-isolate for 14 days.
Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, is due to add the Balkan holiday hotspot to the UK’s “red list” of nations after a sharp rise in coronavirus cases.
However, Portugal, which has been excluded from the “green list” of quarantine-free countries since the beginning of July, was on the brink of returning on Wednesday night after bringing down its Covid rate. A final decision is expected on Thursday.
Official figures show Croatia’s cumulative seven-day average has risen to 27.4 Covid-19 cases per 100,000 of the population, which is well above the Government’s safety threshold of 20 per 100,000.
It is more than treble its rate of 7.8 per 100,000 a week ago.
Croatia's exclusion, due to be announced on Thursday afternoon, is expected to prompt an exodus of holidaymakers seeking to beat the deadline for having to quarantine, which is expected to be fixed as 4am on Saturday morning.
A similar move last Thursday saw thousands of the 160,000 British holidaymakers in France race back by land, air and sea to beat the night-time deadline.
It follows Government decisions to reimpose quarantine at short notice on other countries including Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Malta and Turks and Caicos.
Paul Charles, chief executive of the PC Agency travel consultancy, said: “I think Croatia realised its case numbers were rising sharply so cannot be surprised. It’s another country on the quarantine list which is not good for the UK economy.
“It means people returning will have to quarantine which means they cannot work. Half of the country cannot work from home. It is why testing of arrivals to the UK for coronavirus is needed to allow quarantine-free travel for those who prove to be negative for the disease.