UK likely to remove Croatia from list of epidemiologically safe countries

Split

ZAGREB, Aug 20 (Hina) – Croatia faces being removed from the UK’s travel corridor list, with imported Covid-19 infections from the country having been identified, The Guardian reports.

Ministers are likely to remove the country from the list after logging a recent surge in coronavirus cases.

If the measures are formally signed off, it would mean people arriving from Croatia will have to quarantine for 14 days in Britain, says the paper.

The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, met ministers on Wednesday afternoon to discuss plans. An announcement could come as early as Thursday.

The Guardian has been told that officials at the government’s Joint Biosecurity Centre have flagged specific coronavirus cases imported to the UK from Croatia.

It is not known how many cases have been identified or where in the country, but it is understood that the number of imported cases is at a similar level to that shown by Spain when it was removed from the travel corridor last month with just a few hours’ notice, prompting chaos for holidaymakers, The Guardian says.

However, when France and five other locations were removed from the travel corridor list last week ministers allowed 30 hours’ notice before the measures were imposed on arrivals to the UK. It is likely that any move to remove Croatia could come with a similar notice period, the daily says.