Britain on Thursday said it will reimpose quarantine for travellers from France and the Netherlands.
From 4.00 a.m. on Saturday (0300 GMT), anyone arriving from France, the Netherlands, Monaco, Malta, Turks, and Caicos, and Aruba will have to self-isolate for 14 days, Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, tweeted.
He said the destinations were removed from Britain’s list of unrestricted coronavirus “Travel Corridors”, in order to keep infection rates down.
The Foreign Office has also advised against non-essential travel to France, the Netherlands, and Malta.
French junior minister for European affairs Clement Beaune said that it was “a British decision we regret and which will lead to a reciprocal measure”.
France “hoped for a return to normal as soon as possible,” Beaune said on Twitter.
Britain’s Department for Transport officials said data from France indicated a “sharp rise in COVID-19’’.
It stated that over the past week, there had been a 66 percent increase in newly reported cases per 100,000 people.
It also said that the Netherlands had seen a consistent uptick in newly reported cases over the past four weeks, with a 52-per-cent increase between Aug. 7 and Aug. 13.
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Meanwhile, Malta’s newly reported cases increased by 105 percent over the past seven days.
On Thursday, Britain recorded 1,009 daily coronavirus cases.
On Wednesday, it revised down its official death toll by more than 5,000.
It currently stands at 41,347, which is still the highest in Europe.
