Latest updates: decision over whether to delay 21 June lifting of restrictions will be a ‘very difficult judgment call’, says epidemiologist
Cristóvão Norte, Portuguese MP for the Algarve, said he is “perplexed” by the British government’s decision to remove Portugal from the green list.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
We were not expecting the decision because there haven’t been major changes in Portugal, just a spike in the Lisbon area.
But we have 66 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. Our rate of transmission is more or less the UK rate, so we weren’t expecting this decision from the English government.
I have to respect the decision. We would like to know sooner. This causes great uncertainty.
Julia Lo Bue-Said, chief executive of travel agent group Advantage Travel Partnership, said the decision in relation to Portugal was “an absolute devastating blow” for consumers and the industry, PA Media reports.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
It now throws confidence completely out of the window. It puts the industry in a really difficult position and consumers in a difficult position in order to be able to plan effectively.
For people coming back from green countries you have to take a pre-departure test, you have to take a test when you come back.
There is not a free flow of people coming back from those countries.
