COVENTRY MESSAGE BOARD

People coming to the UK from France and the Netherlands will be forced to quarantine for 14 days from Saturday



Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the measure - which also applies to people travelling from Monaco, Malta, Turks and Caicos, and Aruba - would kick in from 04:00 BST.

He added that this was necessary to keep coronavirus infections down.

The government's decision follows a surge in cases in the countries affected in recent days.

Airlines UK described it as "another devastating blow to the travel industry already reeling from the worst crisis in its history".

With up to half a million UK tourists thought to be in France at present, the deadline is expected to induce a rush to ports and airports, with thousands of tourists desperate to avoid quarantine.

The Eurotunnel website is reportedly struggling to deal with the volume of inquiries.

The Foreign Office is now warning against "all but essential travel" to France - the quarantine measure was imposed for Spain on 25 July.

It added that there had been a 66% increase in newly reported cases per 100,000 people in France since last Friday.

For the Netherlands, it was up 52%. And the increase for Malta was 105%, while it was 273% for Turks and Caicos and 1,106% for Aruba.

Mr Shapps said quarantine was needed because "we've absolutely work so hard to keep our numbers down here", adding: "We can't afford to re-import those cases from elsewhere."

the deadline is expected to induce a rush to ports and airports, with thousands of tourists desperate to avoid quarantine

Thousands return to UK to beat France quarantine



Thousands of holidaymakers are racing to return to the UK, with quarantine restrictions imposed on France coming into force from Saturday.

The 14-day isolation requirement from 04:00 BST also applies to people arriving from the Netherlands, Monaco, Malta, Turks and Caicos, and Aruba.

Eurotunnel trains are booked up, while air travellers face steep prices and extra ferry services have been added.

France warned it would take "reciprocal measures".

Tom Duffell said he found "huge queues" at the airport as he returned home from Nice with his family.

"We were enjoying a nice cocktail last night and suddenly a news flash pops in and a scramble to book flights," he said.

"We've had to spend about £800 because we can't afford to take another two weeks off work."

Stephanie Thiagharajah, who is French but lives in Kent, criticised the "manic" way the quarantine had been imposed after she spent a "really stressful evening" booking a train from Paris to London.

"The Eurostar was full of families, scared to be quarantined, they were definitely annoyed," she said.

Eurotunnel said its Channel Tunnel trains were fully booked until Saturday. Earlier, customers had faced long queues to access the website.

John Keefe, director of public affairs at Getlink, which operates the Channel Tunnel, warned people not to travel to the terminal without a confirmed booking. "There is no space available," he said.

The cheapest Eurostar tickets were £210, compared with £165 on Saturday.

But DFDS Ferries said it had added an extra four departures from Calais to help Britons return in time. It said bookings must be made before arriving at port.

Melisandre wrote:they coukd hitch a boat ride with the illegal immigrants that seems to get to our shores so easily.