Why Has Portugal Been Left Out ?

[Bobbisox1]

It’s very strange why Portugal has been left off the list of safe countries for us to travel to if these stats are right

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/portugal-england-quarantine-safe-travel-list-uk-death-toll-a9601216.html

[fiction-factory]

I thought it's amber rather than red, so it's still safe but the warning, for whatever reason, is take a bit more care

[fiction-factory]

Maybe things have changed since last week as I can't see Red Amber Green now on the gov.uk site- just 'safe corridors'. I don't know why Portugal isn't on there. I can't access the Independent article

[calmck]

There have been a couple of local outbreaks in the north and Lisbon area with local lockdown back in place and some slight increase on the Algarve. Masks are mandatory in shops etc.

[fiction-factory]

Maybe it's reflecting the fact that travel to Portugal is subject to entry restrictions (maybe tit for tat)

From gov.uk site:

Travel to Portugal is subject to entry restrictions:
On arrival in mainland Portugal you will be subject to health screening
If travelling to Madeira, Porto Santo or the Azores, you must take a COVID-19 test before you travel or on arrival

[Bobbisox1]

I’ve got to fill a form in to travel to Lanzarote in September , pp number, phone number, address ,email etc
( hopefully )

[naomi24]

//subject to entry restrictions//

I think that's the key. It's not whether or not our government will allow us to travel - but whether the countries we want to travel to will accept visitors.

[Bobbisox1]

And yet they’re * angry* for being left off Naomi ?

[fiction-factory]

Yes, seems they are happy to have restrictions on entry but unhappy that people returning to UK from there are still expected to quarantine on arrival back in UK

[naomi24]

bobbi, I guess they've been left off because of the restrictions.

[Old_Geezer]

{shrug} Who knows ? Maybe it was simply decided not to open the floodgates all at once but chose a small number of countries to agree easing with. Perhaps negotiations with Portugal didn't progress.

[Gromit]

It could be an error, which might be changed. Earlier in the pandemic the Government issued a form for visitors from Countries that no longer exist...

// The government was accused of being stuck in the 1980s after its quarantine arrivals form welcomed visitors from countries that no longer exist.

Long-defunct nations including Yugoslavia, Southern Rhodesia, Zaire, Czechoslovakia and the USSR were all available as options on the official 'Public Health Passenger Locator'.