UK tourists returning from Portugal have been boosted by the news that they will no longer need to adhere to the Covid-19 quarantine law, but travellers returning from Croatia will now have to self-isolate after a sharp rise in cases there.
Transport secretary Grant Shapps said people will need to self-isolate for 14 days on return from Croatia, Austria and Trinidad and Tobago, as of 04:00 BST on Saturday.
The Telegraph broke the news of the impending addition of Croatia to the quarantine list on Wednesday, prior to its official announcement on Thursday afternoon.
Official figures show Croatia’s seven-day average has increased to 27.4 Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people, more than treble the rate of 7.8 per 100,000 recorded just one week before. It also exceeds the UK government’s safety threshold of 20 cases per 100,000.
Meanwhile, Portugal has been re-added to the quarantine free list after bringing its seven-day average cases down to 14.6 per 100,000.
The exclusive report also suggests that ministers will weigh up proposals over the coming week to introduce airport testing for people arriving in the UK in order to help reduce the 14-day quarantine window.
Plans will also be considered for “regional travel corridors” in areas in red list countries which are deemed to be “low risk”, so that travellers returning from certain regions may not have to self-isolate on arrival.
In the meantime, the Covid-19 pandemic continues to hit public finances, with the Office for National Statistics revealing that UK government debt has exceeded £2 trillion for the first time, having stood at £2.004 trillion at the end of July.
That figure was £227.6 billion more than the same point last year and means that the country owes more than the value of the whole economy for the first time in 60 years.
The Financial Times reports that spending on Covid-19 mitigation measures was the primary cause of the rising debt, with £26.7 billion borrowed in July alone, pushing total borrowing for the year 2020 up to £150.5 billion.
Total debt is now equal to 100.5 per cent of UK GDP, the first time it has gone above 100 per cent of GDP since the 1960-61 financial year.
Elsewhere, homelessness charity Crisis has warned the government against leaving a “leadership vacuum” following Dame Louise Casey’s decision to step back from her role as the government’s chief adviser on homelessness.
Dame Louise was appointed to her role in February and tasked with carrying out a review into homelessness by prime minister Boris Johnson.
The review was part of a pledge “to end rough sleeping once and for all” by the end of the current Parliament in 2024.
However, the Covid-19 pandemic saw Dame Louise redirected to lead the government’s homelessness task force, overseeing emergency housing provision for 15,000 rough sleepers through the lockdown.
Crisis chief executive Jon Sparkes hailed Dame Louise for the “extraordinary progress” made during her stint in the role, saying: "With the economic impact of the pandemic pushing more people into homelessness, we must redouble our efforts, otherwise we risk rates of rough sleeping rising with all the human misery this entails."
Dame Louise leaves her role to accept a crossbench peerage in the House of Lords but could return to lead the review on rough sleeping later in the year.
Announcing her decision in a written letter, Dame Louise said: "Accepting the crossbench peerage is also a big deal to me and I want to think about how best I can make my contribution to public service from there.
"So, for a number of reasons this seemed like the right moment to step back, especially as the country looks to gear up to the 'new normal'."
Housing secretary Robert Jenrick also thanked Dame Louise for her work through the pandemic which had “helped so many”.
Jenrick said: “Her work leading the Rough Sleeping Taskforce will ensure as many people as possible who have been brought in do not return to sleeping rough.”
Photo by Nick Karvounis on Unsplash
