Britain on Thursday imposed a requirement for arrivals from Switzerland to self-isolate for 14 days, dealing another blow to embattled airlines and travel firms.
Switzerland is currently on a list of “air bridge” nations exempt from a general requirement for arrivals to Britain to self-isolate to help curb the spread of coronavirus.
But they it will lose their exemption from Saturday, along with the Czech Republic and Jamaica, British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said.
Shapps tweeted that the change was necessary to “keep infection rates down.”
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The government said it had decided to allow quarantine-free arrivals from Cuba.
“The decision on whether to add or remove a country is carefully made after research from the joint biosecurity centre,” Shapps said, adding that British government experts “take into account a wide range of factors.”
Britain suspended quarantine exemptions for Spain, France and other popular tourist destinations earlier this month amid rising numbers of confirmed infections in some regions. It added Austria and Croatia to the list last week.
Germany, Greece and Turkey are among the European nations that remain exempt from quarantine on arrival in Britain.
dpa/NAN
