New quarantine rules for arrivals from Greece have been brought in by Scotland and Wales following a surge in cases there, as the country in southeastern Europe remains on the Republic's "green list".
Arrivals from Greece into Ireland are not currently required to self-isolate for 14 days upon landing in the State, as it remains on the Republic's list of countries exempt from quarantine rules.
Scotland has now removed Greece from its safe travel list and made two weeks of self-isolation mandatory for holidaymakers returning from the country from Thursday, following a significant spike in cases there and new evidence that Covid-19 is being imported.
Meanwhile, the Welsh government has also asked anyone returning from Zante to quarantine for two weeks following a rise in coronavirus cases there.
Last month, the Irish Government deferred the removal of Greece from the travel green list and asked the State’s public health team to reexamine overall travel advice.
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England is now facing pressure to reconsider quarantine rules for Greece after the moves of Scotland and Wales to introduce self-isolation periods.
The UK Department for Transport (DfT) said no change to its rules for England had been made, but Wales’ health minister Vaughan Gething said he would be pressing the UK Government for an urgent meeting to consider the potential risk in Greece.
The move came as UK holidaymakers have scrambled to return from Portugal amid growing concerns restrictions could be reimposed to arrivals from there.
Restrictions for Greece were lifted in England in July when international exemptions were first permitted.
There were 14.0 coronavirus cases per 100,000 people in Greece in the seven days to August 31, down from 14.9 a week earlier.
A seven-day rate of 20 is the threshold above which the UK Government considers triggering quarantine conditions.
Scottish Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf, announcing the restriction, said the “importations of new cases from Greece is a significant risk to public health”.
Travellers from Greece will be required to self-isolate for 14 days on arrival in Scotland from 4am Thurs morning (3 Sept). This is due to significant rise in cases of COVID-19 imported into Scotland by people who have been to Greece. Decision made in interest of public health.
— Humza Yousaf (@HumzaYousaf) September 1, 2020
He said “regular discussions continue” with the other three UK governments over restrictions.
Mr Gething said six clusters amounting to more than 30 cases of Covid-19 in the last week had come from four flights, two of which landed in England.
“There are concerns from our public health teams that the current advice and control measures for returning travellers are insufficient,” he said.
He said that all passengers on a flight from Zante to Cardiff on Tuesday night would be told to quarantine and would be given two Covid-19 tests, one within 48 hours and another eight days after their return.
“There is an obvious need for us to consider the potential for changes to the regulations in Wales which would require travellers arriving in the UK from Greece and possibly elsewhere to self-isolate on their return,” he said.
UK tour operator Tui has said it will no longer be offering holidays to the resort of Laganas on Zante from Thursday after a string of coronavirus cases were linked to the island. The travel giant has said it will refund everyone who has booked to go to Laganas from tomorrow.
Greece’s tourism minister, Harry Theoharis, insisted the country is doing “everything in our power to ensure that every person that comes from the UK is kept safe”.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We’re taking specific targeted measures where we see specific concentrations of cases. Measures that have been successful and have been working in the past few days.”
He added that Greece has “a much lower number of infections compared to most other countries in Europe”.
