Hundreds of Chelsea supporters told to self-isolate on return from Portugal before country is removed from UK green list
THREE planeloads of Chelsea supporters have been told to self-isolate after they returned from the Champion’s League final match in Porto.
The football fans were contacted by the NHS Track and Trace app after travelling back from the country – which will be placed on the UK’s amber list.
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MailOnline reported that fans who were on flights organised by Chelsea football club had been contacted by the app to say they had been in contact with someone who had tested positive.
One passenger posted on Facebook: “Anyone else been captured by NHS track and trace since getting back from Porto?
“Despite two vaccinations, a negative test and no symptoms I’ve got to self-isolate for 10 days …Deep Joy!”
Fans paid £199 for a flights and accommodation package laid on by the football club, on top of tickets to the match.
Portugal has seen a rise in Covid cases – reporting 724 cases yesterday, the highest since April – with fears of a rise in variants in the country.
Once it is moved to the amber list, Brits will need to self-isolate for ten days on their return to the Uk and pay for a further PCR test on day 8 after their arrival, on top of the one on day two.
It comes as:
- Families head to Greece despite the Government’s amber warning – as one Brit mum says ‘my kids deserve a holiday’
- Heathrow finally opens a separate red list terminal after weeks of India arrivals mixing with others in long border queues
- Holidaymakers will be hit with soaring prices if green list additions are ‘kept secret’, says an airport boss
- Brits are now banned from entering France unless they have ‘compelling’ reason to stop spread of Indian variant
PC Agency’s Paul Charles previously said it would be “damaging” to the travel sector if Portugal was taken off.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Many people still don’t want to travel because they are worried about the cost of the testing.
“It would be highly damaging if somewhere like Portugal which only went green two weeks ago was put back onto the amber list.”
Boris Johnson said yesterday that the Joint Biosecurity Centre will have no hesitation in moving countries between the red, amber and green lists if there is a spike in cases or new deadlier variants.
The PM added: “We’re going to try to allow people to travel, as I know many want to.
“But we’ve got to be cautious and we’ve got to continue to put countries on the red list, on the amber list, when that is necessary.
“The priority is to continue the vaccine rollout, to protect the people of this country.”
Insiders at the Department for Transport emphasised: “No one in the department has booked a holiday abroad.”
Assessments are based on a range of factors, including the proportion of a population that has been vaccinated, rates of infection, emerging new variants, and access to reliable scientific data and genomic sequencing.
Four countries – Costa Rica, Bahrain, Kuwait and Trinidad and Tobago – are expected to be added to the red list due to soaring cases.
The vaccination programme is seen as key in the bid to reopen the country and beyond.
It was confirmed on Wednesday that 75 per cent of UK adults across the UK had now had their first coronavirus jab, and 50 per cent of adults in England had received both doses.
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Here is the full list of countries on the green list, amber list and red list right now.
Popular British holiday hotspot Spain, despite pushing for the UK to open up to the country, has warned this is unlikely to happen until the end of July after being urged to show “caution” and “patience” during a meeting with Britain’s Ambassador to Spain.
Despite this, Brits have been heading to amber-list Spain and Greece in recent weeks, going against warnings from the UK government.