UK Have Added Essential Travel Only Canary Islands And Balearic Islands

[jand]

Breaking news on the TV FCO have added Canary Islands and Balearic Island TO NON ESSENTIAL TRAVEL.


“From 27 July, the FCO advise against all non-essential travel to Spain, including the Balearic and Canary Islands, based on the current assessment of COVID-19 risks in the country”

[Felipe Geraldo]

Just read an interesting article on the Daily Telegraph website, the article is mainly around the UK Govt being encouraged by the airline industry to implement airport testing, however there is a brief mention of "Regional travel corridors"

Quote from the article since it is behind the paywall:

"Ministers are also considering following Wales by sanctioning regional “travel corridors” where visitors to “low risk” islands like Madeira and the Azores would be exempt from quarantine despite travel bans on the mainland.

A decision could come as early as Monday, say industry sources."

The example given is for the Welsh Govt policy on Portugal and the Azores, and to be honest I did not know about this "regional travel corridor", only that the Govt for each nation are responsible for their travel corridor and quarantine policy.

Don't want to get anyones hopes up (including my own!), but this would pave the way for the option of the Balearic & Canary Islands being treated differently from mainland Spain in terms of travel corridor and quarantine requirements, for all parts of the UK. I will be watching closely for an announcement on this.

Full article (account required):
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/202...e-without/

[Captain Sensible]

The UK Government have decided that the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands will remain on the quarantine list as infection rates are still high.

[Felipe Geraldo]

Hate to say it, but looking at recent spike in cases for the Islands, against the relatively low population of Fuerteventura; I've come to the sullen conclusion that this news is probably a hindrance rather than a help!

Obviously I have no idea what the governments full criteria is, but I have seen somewhere a figure of 20 infections per 100,000 population over a seven day period as a trigger for a review.

Looks like I will be rebelling against the Government advice next month then! I have however just seen some useful information on the Which website about travel insurance policies including COVID cover that are not invalidated by FCO advice. I will see if this has already been covered elsewhere on the forum before posting for the benefit of those possibly in the same boat as me (metaphorically speaking that is!) along with the cover that the Canarian govt are providing which I believe is only for medical cover.

[Sam Cariss]

I think this might help as I was in this very situation regarding FCO advice and the validation of my travel insurance, but as it turned out my lights were cancelled as well so it never happened.

What I established was this, and I quote: ..... where the FCO advises against all but essential travel to your destination in Europe because of COVID-19, adding the European FCO Travel Advice Extension to your policy means you can still go on holiday WITH cover.
You can be covered by your policy limits APART FROM COVID-19 related claims - (or any other reason why the FCO advice against all but essential travel) - for up to 104 days.
So, your holiday to places like SPAIN or France can still go ahead if you feel safe enough to go, and by adding the European FCO Travel Advice Extension to your policy means you can still be covered.

So, as I interpret it, due to the Canarian Authorities offering COVID related cover, which the FCO advice would exclude, you could travel with FULL cover - but please check before doing so, don't take this as factual, its only what's being circulated ton the internet and your insurers may take a different view.............

[Mia]

Some of you might know about the petition  - Allow quarantine free travel from the Canary and Balearic Islands to the UK - I have just received an update.

Government responded:


The JBC risk assessment indicates the risks to UK public health from travellers returning from Balearic and Canary Islands remains unacceptably high. We will keep the islands under regular review.


The Government’s priority is to tackle the spread of COVID-19 whilst enabling a safe, sustainable and responsible return to tourism.

Decisions on International Travel Corridors are informed by risk assessments provided by the Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC), working closely with Public Health England (PHE), using a methodology endorsed by the four Chief Medical Officers (CMO) of the UK.

JBC and PHE monitor over 250 countries, territories and islands daily to inform these risk assessments. Factors taken into consideration include:

• An estimate of the proportion of the population that is currently infected (this is known as ‘point prevalence’);
• Weekly case incidence rate taking into account population size of the country, territory or island;
• Trends in incidence, deaths, hospitalisations and intensive care admissions;
• Information on laboratory capacity, testing and contact tracing strategies, and test positivity rates;
• COVID-19 cases detected in the UK following travel to the country, territory or island (‘imported infections’);
• Qualitative information related to the reliability of reported data and the maturity of public health systems; and
• Public health measures in place and the enforcement of, and adherence to, those measures.

We keep our approach to border measures under regular review to ensure that they remain effective and practical. Accordingly, on 7th September, the Government updated the Travel Corridors policy to enable islands to be added to the Travel Corridor list, separate to their mainland countries, where the data supports it.

The latest JBC risk assessment indicates that the risks to the UK public health from travellers returning from Balearic and Canary Islands remains unacceptably high.

Decisions on international Travel Corridors are reviewed weekly. We will bring the Spanish islands onto the travel corridor list as soon as it is safe to do so.

In addition, the Government has set up the Global Travel Taskforce which will consider:

• How a domestic testing regime for international arrivals could be implemented to boost safe travel to and from the UK and allow UK residents to travel with confidence;
• What steps we can take to facilitate global business and tourist travel, including through bilateral agreements and multilateral forums by exploring with key international partners issues such as global common standards, testing models, “bubbles”, measures around enforcement, exemptions and other border management measures; and
• Beyond the above, what steps we can take to increase consumer confidence, ensure existing measures are being properly adhered to and restart international travel safely.

Public health is a devolved matter in the United Kingdom, therefore Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland may take their own approach if they so wish.

Department for Transport

[Rome77]

Some of you might know about the petition  - Allow quarantine free travel from the Canary and Balearic Islands to the UK - I have just received an update.

Government responded: [...]

Thanks for sharing this Mia. It is indeed frustrating that the UK maintains a 14 day quarantine for Fuerteventura - particularly when you review their criteria it becomes really difficult to understand. Because of this we couldn't travel to our place this week. We've also got our flights booked for xmas and hoping the quarantine may be lifted by then. With the irrational decision-making of the UK government I'm afraid that I'm not too hopeful...

[Perrypower1]

I just heard that travel to the Canary Islands Has been given green light

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54650531

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

My reading of it is that quarantine has been lifted. FCO still advising only essential travel.

[Mia]

My reading of it is that quarantine has been lifted. FCO still advising only essential travel.

Not anymore it has been updated:

The Canary Islands are now exempt from FCDO advice against all non-essential international travel. This is based on the current assessment of COVID-19 risks.

The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) continues to advise against all non-essential travel to Spain, including the Balearic Islands, based on the current assessment of COVID-19 risks in the country. The Canary Islands are exempt from the FCDO’s advice against all non-essential international travel.

If you are returning from Spain, except the Canary Islands, you will need to self-isolate on your return to the UK.

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/spain