Wales adds three more Greek islands to quarantine list

Passengers arrive at Heathrow Airport from the Greek island of Mykonos, hours before the 4am quarantine comes into force. (PA)

Three more Greek islands were added to Wales’ quarantine list just six hours before restrictions come into force.

Travellers arriving from Santorini, Serifos and Tinos will have to self-isolate for 14 days from 4am on Wednesday because of rising coronavirus cases in these areas, the Welsh government said.

It followed last week’s addition of Portugal, Gibraltar, French Polynesia and the Greek islands of Mykonos, Zakynthos, Lesvos, Paros, Antiparos and Crete.

Health minister Vaughan Gething said he made the decision after reviewed the latest assessments by the UK government’s Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC). He has previously described a "rising tide of infections" coming from the Greek islands.

The three named islands had been added England’s list, along with Mykonos, Zakynthos, Lesvos and Crete, on Monday.

It followed an announcement from transport secretary Grant Shapps that the government was adopting a new ‘island corridor’ travel quarantine policy rather than applying restrictions across whole nations. 

However, he said the data did not yet allow for self-isolation rules to be applied regionally in mainland countries.

Mr Shapps gave holidaymakers 36 hours to return to England before the quarantine came into force, prompting another rush for flights to avoid having to self-isolate at home for two weeks.

However Britain's biggest budget airline responded furiously to the new restrictions, saying it would reduce its schedule as “customer confidence to make travel plans has been negatively affected”.