New restrictions requiring travellers from the UK to quarantine on arrival in Portugal have come into effect.
The new rules mean visitors must quarantine for 14 days, either “at home or a place indicated by health authorities”, unless they can present proof of having been fully vaccinated at least 14 days prior to arrival.
The requirements will initially remain in place until July 11, although authorities said that they could be reviewed “at any time, depending on the evolution of the epidemiological situation”.
There had been hopes of UK travellers being able to visit Portugal free of quarantine this summer, especially when the country was placed on the UK’s “green list” in May.
But since then Portugal has been recategorised as an “amber list” destination, meaning that travellers from must quarantine on arrival back into the UK.
This latest move by Portugal means unvaccinated travellers must now quarantine at either end of their trip, making vacations extremely unlikely in the near future.
Note that the above restrictions currently do not apply to the Portuguese autonomous region of Madeira, which moves to the “green watchlist” in England from June 30.
The news comes as Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel is understood to be pushing for the EU to designate the UK as a “country of concern” because of the spread of the Delta variant of Covid-19.
