Greece’s Civil Protection announced on Sunday evening that it extends the days of quarantine for travelers arriving from UK. According to a statement, the Civil Protection extend the quarantine for travelers from the United Kingdom to seven (7) days, while for all other passengers from other country the quarantine of three (3) days remain.
The measure goes into force from tomorrow at 6:00 a.m. Monday, December 21, 2020.
The statement noted that this new measure is complementary to the existing ones, ie the obligation of all travelers to have a negative molecular (PCR) test of 72 hours continues to apply, while they will continue to undergo a mandatory [Rapid test] test upon arrival in the country.
The Committee of Experts of the Ministry of Health for the treatment of the coronavirus will evaluate in more detail tomorrow (21-12-2020) the scientific data and will come back with any newer suggestions, the statement said.
⚠️Επείγουσα ενημέρωση:
‼️ Νέα μέτρα για αφίξεις από #ΗνωμένοΒασίλειο από αύριο, 21/12@ukingreece @GreeceinUK
Περισσότερα 🔗https://t.co/6OFWqeYPGn pic.twitter.com/z0RQeAbRlC
— Civil Protection GR (@GSCP_GR) December 20, 2020
The quarantine extension followed a meeting of the country’s epidemiologists on Sunday and the news that “a SARS-COV-2 mutation identified in UK spread the virus faster.”
UK Health secretary said that the new virus strain was “Out of control” and “spreading more quickly,” while Prime Minister Boris Johnson “canceled Christmas.”
According to a NOTAM issued by the Greek Civil Aviation late on Sunday night, the 7-day quarantine for passengers from the UK is in force until January 7, 2021.
Media report that flights to/from UK are highly possible to be banned as of Monday night, Dec 21, but this will be decided tomorrow.
Greece is not the only country that takes measures. Austria, Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands announced bans on travel to UK, France, Germany and Ireland reportedly likely soon to follow,
Note that thousands of Greek students in UK are waiting for fly to their home country and spend the holidays with their families.
