Greece and Italy enforce strict quarantine-on-arrival rules for Christmas and New Year holidays

Greece and Italy enforce strict quarantine-on-arrival rules for Christmas and New Year holidays

12/09/2020

BRITS heading abroad for a Christmas break will be greeted with new quarantine rules being enforced at popular holiday destinations.

Both Greece and Italy are introducing new restrictions for the holiday period, with a mandatory 14-day isolation period.

Arrivals to Greece between December 18 and January 7 will be subject to the new measures, government spokesperson Stelios Petsas confirmed.

This is alongside the current rules requiring a negative coronavirus test, taken up to 72 hours before travel, as well as a Passenger Locator Form.

Brits travelling to Italy between December 21 and January 6 will also have to quarantine for two weeks, as well as show a negative coronavirus test.

With both destinations also on the UK's quarantine list, this makes a holiday almost impossible without self-isolating for four weeks.

Only the Greek islands of Corfu, Crete, Rhodes, Zante and Kos are on the UK travel corridor list, meaning no UK quarantine, but a quarantine on arrival to the islands will be in place during the period.

Greece Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis tweeted: "The optimism from the arrival of the vaccine should not lead us to complacency.

"This euphoria worries us, because it can lead to a possible third wave and winter is still ahead of us. We must continue to respect individual protection measures."

Italy Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said during his own statement: "The measures we are adopting are adequate and proportional to the level of risk, without unnecessary penalisation."

He added: "There is still a long way to go until we're out of the pandemic. We must avert a third wave, which could arrive as early as January and be no less violent than the first wave."

Both countries also have travel restrictions within the country, with non-essential travel advised against and masks mandatory in public spaces.

For a last-minute hot holiday, there are some great deals for the Canary Islands which require no quarantine restrictions on arrival or back in the UK.

While Brits will need a negative coronavirus test, which can cost from £60, deals with TUI, easyJet and Jet2 start from just £206 per person this month.

Staying in the UK? Here are the Christmas markets going ahead.

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