Greece added to Scotland’s quarantine list over coronavirus fears

UK

Travellers arriving in Scotland from Greece will have to quarantine for two weeks following a “significant” spike in coronavirus cases.

The rule will come into force from 4am on Thursday due to “evidence of virus importation”.

In Wales, people coming back from Zante will be asked to self-isolate for two weeks, after seven infections were discovered on a flight from the popular Greek island that landed on 25 August.

The request is not mandatory, but the Welsh first minister wants a meeting with political leaders in the other UK nations to agree to add Greece to all their separate quarantine lists.

Decisions about adding or removing countries from the so-called list of “travel corridors” are usually taken every Thursday, with those where cases are higher than 20 per 100,000 people at particular risk.

In Greece, the figure is 13.7 per 100,000, according to the latest figures from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

But Scotland’s chief medical officer, Dr Gregor Smith, said there had been a notable number of “imported cases linked to the Greek islands”.

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He added that “the flow of travel” and “behaviour we have seen from some of those travellers” meant Greece needed to be added to the quarantine list “on public health grounds”.

It comes as some COVID-19 lockdown restrictions were tightened in and around Glasgow.

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