Grant Shapps: Transport secretary on holiday in Spain and will have to quarantine, government says
The transport secretary Grant Shapps is currently in Spain, and will have to quarantine for two weeks on his return under his own department’s coronavirus advice, the government has confirmed.
The minister travelled out to the country just before the decision to remove Spain from a list of nations deemed safe by officials was announced.
On Thursday the Spanish health minister reported 971 new infections of coronavirus, the biggest spike since lockdown was eased.
Mr Shapps will now be subject to his own department’s rules for foreign travel when returning from countries with high prevalence of the virus, including isolating for two weeks with the rest of his household.
A government spokesperson said of the decision to change the guidance on the country: “The Joint Biosecurity Centre together with Public Health England (PHE) have updated their coronavirus assessments of Spain based on the latest data.
“As a result, Spain has been removed from the lists of countries from which passengers arriving in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are exempted from the need to self-isolate.
“Protecting public health is our absolute priority and we have taken this decision to limit any potential spread to the UK.
“We’ve always been clear that we would act immediately to remove a country where necessary. Both our list of quarantine exemptions and the Foreign Office travel advice are being updated to reflect these latest risk assessments.”
In April the minister had attempted to ward members of the public off booking a holiday by saying he himself would not be doing so because of the trajectory of the coronavirus.
His comments came before the number of cases began to decline in early May.
In a government press conference in April Mr Shapps said:"On the travel advice – should you book your holidays? – clearly people will want to see what the trajectory of this disease is in the next few weeks.
“I won't be booking a summer holiday at this point, let's put it that way."
