Coronavirus: Is there a way of cutting the mandatory hotel quarantine cost?

Q My daughter has been working in Turkey for three months and must leave the country soon. She can’t afford the £1,750 fee for hotel quarantine back in the UK.

She is thinking of waiting until the next review to see if Turkey goes green. But if it doesn’t, is there anything she can do to cut the cost?

Jane W

A The chances of Turkey going from its current “red list” status – requiring 11 nights of hotel isolation on return to the UK – to green, with no quarantine, are vanishingly low. I believe the most likely move for Turkey in the next “traffic light” review in early August will be to “amber plus”, the new category invented at the weekend for France. Basically, it means that arrivals must self-isolate at home for 10 days – a much lower cost option for your daughter than hotel quarantine.

There is a slim possibility Turkey could be moved to the main amber list, allowing people who have been fully vaccinated by the NHS to avoid quarantine. However, I imagine that if your daughter has been in Turkey for three months, it is unlikely she qualifies.

In that case, easily the best option for her is to “launder” her red list status, legally and safely, in a low-cost green list country. The obvious candidate is Bulgaria – which was the only European nation recently moved to the lowest-risk category by the UK.

Bulgaria almost immediately put arrivals direct from the UK on its red list because of the very high levels of coronavirus infections here. But arriving from Turkey, just across the border, should present no problem. Whether your daughter stays on the Black Sea coast in Varna or Burgas, or travels inland to the fine cities of Plovdiv and Sofia, living costs will be among the lowest in Europe – perhaps £40 per day for decent accommodation and meals.

She needs to spend 10 full days in Bulgaria in order to declare that she has not been in a red or amber list location for 10 days. But she will then be free to take a low-cost flight back to the UK from any of the four cities mentioned, probably having spent around a quarter of the cost of hotel quarantine and having had a holiday to boot.

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Q Is it true that, as of now, you no longer need a Covid test to travel to France if fully vaccinated? We are traveling to the country next week, and it is news to us.

Julia B

A For anyone in your position, heading for France in the next few weeks, it has been a tumultuous weekend. The first (unwelcome) surprise was on Friday night: the sudden announcement that British travellers returning from France will be expected to quarantine even if they are fully vaccinated by the NHS. That runs counter to arrivals from every other “amber list” country: from today, the obligation for travellers double-jabbed to quarantine ends. Instead, self-isolation will continue to be mandatory for arrivals from France. Costs are also going up, with a need for an extra PCR test on day eight of quarantine – as well, in England, for a further test on day five for those availing of test to release.

There was some good news, though, from Paris. Starting on 18 July, British visitors who have been fully vaccinated do not need a test before departure to France. The French Embassy in London said: “If you have not been vaccinated you must present a negative PCR or antigen test less than 24 hours old to travel to French territory from the UK. If you have been fully vaccinated you will therefore no longer have to present a test in order to enter French territory.” Vaccines are now deemed by the French to become effective just a week after the second dose.

There is EVEN an allowance for people who have recovered from a Covid infection and have received one dose of a coronavirus vaccine. To allay concerns that about versions of the AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured in India (known as Covishield), the French Embassy also confirmed: “France recognises the AZ-Covishield vaccine, so it is possible to travel to France with this type of vaccine if you have been fully vaccinated.”

There had been fears that the Indian-made vaccine would not be accepted – but the only nation that rejected it, for a couple of days last week, was Malta. I expect a U-turn soon on the UK government’s odd decision to continue self-isolation, allowing a quarantine-free return from France for vaccinated travellers within a month or so.

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Q After the France chaos, do you think they would send Spain the same way? I am desperate to go to Nerja.

Andrew W

A On 12 May, the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, said: “The government is committed to giving people the freedom to travel with confidence and supporting the wider travel industry.” On 8 July, he announced UK residents who have been fully vaccinated by the NHS would no longer have to self-isolate when returning from amber list countries such as Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain and France.

“As one of the world’s most vaccinated countries, we must use these advantages to restore many of the freedoms that have been necessarily lost over recent months,” he said. Whereupon many people felt encouraged to book trips across the Channel.

But on Friday, Mr Shapps performed a U-turn on quarantine-free travel from France, adding helpfully: “We urge everyone thinking about going abroad this summer to check their terms and conditions.” The volte-face means that hundreds of thousands of British travellers are now confronted with self-isolation for 10 days on return from France. More broadly, there is yet another category into which countries can be consigned at a moment’s notice. “Amber plus,” I call it – though “old amber” is also accurate, since it represents the amber list conditions prevailing between 17 May and 18 July.

The new category may be used to rehabilitate nations such as Turkey, currently on the red list, before they go to “regular amber”. But I believe its main role is as a convenient repository for arrivals from countries – such as France – which have so many British visitors and family connections that the sheer numbers would break the red-list hotel quarantine system.

Given the government’s record in making sudden and far-reaching changes to the quarantine system over the past year, the possibility of adding Spain (plus or minus the islands) to amber plus cannot be ruled out. All I can do is recommend you book as late as possible, to reduce the scope for disarray.

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