Experts have warned that vaccines are ‘almost certainly less effective’ at reducing the spread of the ‘highly transmissible’ Indian variant – as the British Medical Association urges ‘utmost caution’ with lockdown easing next week.
Boris Johnson announced last night that Britain will press ahead with plans for indoor drinking and dining from Monday – with ministers today insisting the rule change is the ‘safe and right thing to do’.
But government scientists revealed in minutes released on Friday night that the variant could ‘realistically’ be 50 per cent more infectious than the Kent strain – which models project could lead to 1,000 deaths a day, as well as 10,000 daily hospitalisations, by the summer.
The Prime Minister has pledged to ‘throw everything we have at this task’ and is set to send the Army into Britain’s worst variant hotspots to hand out tests in a bid to slow the spread.
Adding to concerns, deputy chairman of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation Dr Anthony Harnden today revealed that Britain’s vaccine rollout – hailed as the key to preventing another wave – may not stop the virus infecting the vulnerable.
He said the jab is not only ‘less effective against mild disease’, it is ‘almost certainly less effective against transmission’ – partly because immunisation only begins three weeks after the vaccine is given.
He said the UK’s vaccine rollout is focusing on keeping hospitalisation and death figures low by vaccinating the vulnerable – who are more likely to see serious symptoms – to not overwhelm the NHS.
But Dr Harnden stressed that some over 50s still haven’t had the jab, and urged local authorities to ‘get out there and vaccinate their unvaccinated people’.
Second doses of vaccines will be accelerated for the over-50s and the clinically vulnerable across the country, so they are given eight weeks after the first dose instead of the current 12 weeks.
At present the variant is spreading among unvaccinated younger age groups while cases remain lower among older vaccinated people.
Although the most vulnerable people in Britain are protected against the variant by the vaccine, if it is allowed to spread uncontrolled among unvaccinated younger people it could still cause thousands of deaths and hospitalisations in a third wave potentially more serious than Britain’s first and second.
SAGE calculations upon which lockdown easing were based factored in the Kent variant but not a faster spreading strain.
BMA public health medicine committee co-chairman Dr Richard Jarvis today said the number of people still without the protection of a vaccine – and the rapid spread of the Indian variant – means the ‘utmost caution’ should be taken when lockdown restrictions ease.
The Prime Minister will send in troops to help surge-testing efforts in Bolton – which is fighting a spike in infections almost ten times higher than the UK average – and neighbouring Blackburn.
Speaking on Radio 4’s Today Programme, Dr Harnden said: ‘This is a clearly more-transmissible virus, this B617 which originated in India.
‘And the vaccines may be less effective against mild disease but we don’t think they’re less effective against severe disease. In combination with being less effective against mild disease, they’re almost certainly less effective against transmission.
‘We’ve got a very successful programme at the moment in preventing severe disease and we have had a key focus on hospitalisations and deaths.
‘So we believe vaccinating those in at-risk groups who are currently unvaccinated, and bringing forward that second dose in the over 50s by four weeks, is a better strategy.
‘And the reason that we think this is because if we immunise 18 to 29 year olds for instance in these areas, we would be taking vaccines from somebody else in the country.
‘The vaccines may be less effective against transmission – as I said – and actually the immunity takes a number of weeks to develop.
‘So it’s not a very good strategy for preventing transmission.’
He stressed that the country can ‘cope with infection rates in the community providing we don’t get our hospitals overwhelmed’.
Meanwhile, the BMA’s Dr Jarvis urged ‘utmost caution’ as the next stage of Boris Johnson’s roadmap begins on Monday.
He said in a statement: ‘With key segments of the population still not vaccinated and clusters of variants, including the rapidly increasing Indian variant, becoming a growing concern, we must approach this next stage of easing lockdown with the utmost caution.
‘It is a real worry that when further measures lift on May 17, the majority of younger people, who are often highly socially mobile and could therefore be most at risk of a more infectious strain, are not yet vaccinated.
‘Despite having the highest rates of positive tests throughout the pandemic, they will now be able to mix in larger groups in hospitality venues without many of the mitigations that have helped to push infection rates lower and lower since the start of the year.
‘We are urging the public, and young people in particular, to take a cautious approach to social and physical contact, to continue practising ‘hands, face, space’ and to meet outdoors wherever possible.’
Health Minister Edward Argar today insisted that reopening indoor drinking and dining is ‘safe and the right thing to do’.
He told the Today Programme: ‘Now is the time for cool and calm heads. And I think that is what the Prime Minister is showing. He’s set out to the people where we are with this.
‘But he’s been very clear that on the basis of the evidence we have at the moment, it is safe and the right thing to do to go ahead on Monday with the easing of restrictions.
‘And we will see in the coming weeks whether anything that emerges from the evidence changes.’
It comes as:
- A key study confirms Pfizer and Moderna vaccines cut the risk of getting sick with COVID-19 by 94%;
- Mr Johnson’s former chief adviser Dominic Cummings was among those calling for caution, sharing a post on social media which said ‘the cost of another big wave is much higher than the cost of delaying the next stage of the roadmap’.
- The PM warned THAT the UK’s ‘green list’ for quarantine-free travel won’t expand ‘very rapidly’;
- The NHS vaccine site was inundated with Brits desperately trying to book a jab hours after the PM accelerated doses;
- The UK confirms 2,193 more Covid cases in 12% weekly drop and 17 deaths as ONS survey finds England’s outbreak shrank AGAIN last week to just 41,000 people;
- Nicola Sturgeon put the brakes in Scotland, with Glasgow and Moray remaining at higher tier of lockdown restrictions on Monday after surge in Covid cases
Boris Johnson announced last night that Britain will press ahead with plans for indoor drinking and dining from Monday – with ministers today insisting the rule change is the ‘safe and right thing to do’
Similar but less grim modelling by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine suggested that a 50 per cent increase in transmissibility could trigger a peak of 4,000 admissions per day in July or August, possibly extending to 6,000 per day
The LSHTM model suggested hospitals could have another 30,000 inpatients by the end of July – up to around 45,000 – compared to the current 845
The LSHTM team suggested that there will be 1,000 deaths per day in August if the variant is 50 per cent more transmissible – which would be less than the 1,900 seen at the peak this January
Members of the public queue at a temporary Covid-19 vaccination centre at the Essa academy in Bolton on Friday
Soldiers will be deployed on the streets to hand out tests, as was the case during mass testing in Liverpool last year (pictured)
Mr Argar was also forced to defend border restrictions, saying it is ‘impossible to completely hermetically seal’ the nation amid criticism of the delay in adding India to the travel red list.
He said: ‘Our border controls, for want of a better way of putting it, to reduce the risk of an importation of a new variant of the disease are among the toughest in the world.
‘I do think we’ve got the right border controls in place to minimise, you can never totally eliminate, but to minimise the risk of not just this variant but other variants in the future.’
Questioned on why Bangladesh and Pakistan were added to the red list while India was not, he said the decisions were made ‘on the basis of the evidence, based on a number of factors’.
‘There’s a number of different factors, it’s not a binary thing,’ he added.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast on the lifting of the indoor-mixing ban, he said: ‘All the evidence so far suggests there is no evidence of increased severity of illness or that it evades the vaccine.
‘So, at the moment, on the basis of the evidence we are doing the right thing, coolly, calmly continuing with Monday, but keeping everything under review.’
Monday’s easing will allow people to socialise indoors in homes, pubs and restaurants, and will permit physical contact between households for the first time in more than a year.
Mr Argar said people should take personal responsibility when deciding whether or not to hug loved ones, when allowed to do so.
‘You have to take all the facts into consideration,’ he said. ‘It’s about personal responsibility, it’s about making the right judgment call.’
Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty last night said that the Indian variant is ‘highly likely that the strain is more transmissible.
The Prime Minister added: ‘I do not believe that we need, on the present evidence, to delay our road map and we will proceed with our plan to move to step three in England from Monday.
‘But I have to level with you that this new variant could pose a serious disruption to our progress and could make it more difficult to move to step four in June.’
The SPI-M subgroup said it was confident the mutant B.1.617.2 strain was more infectious than the currently dominant variant, and that it could spread up to 50% more easily.
Increased transmission could ‘lead to a substantial resurgence of hospitalisations (similar to, or larger than, previous peaks)’ according to SAGE, and Whitty added that the strain was ‘quite widely seeded in a number of parts of England’ and it could overtake the Kent strain to become dominant in the UK.
He warned the UK could see ‘a really significant surge’ in Covid-19 cases if it proves to be a lot more transmissible, adding: ‘That’s a really critical question to which we do not yet have the answer.’
Scientists advising SAGE this month estimated what a more transmissible strain could do to the country after lockdown is lifted in June and claimed it could trigger up to 20,000 hospital admissions per day in a worst-case scenario of 50% more transmissibility. January’s peak, which nearly crippled the NHS, was around 3,800 a day in England.
A Warwick University modelling team cautioned that if it was 40 per cent more transmissible the next surge could be worse than the second wave, with up to 6,000 daily admissions, and a 50 per cent increase could lead to 10,000 per day. Less grisly numbers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine suggested a 50 per cent rise could lead to 4,000 per day.
A Warwick University model of a more infectious variant after lockdown is completely lifted on June 21 suggests that any more than a 30 per cent increase in transmissibility compared to the Kent variant could lead to an August peak of daily hospital admissions that is higher than either the first or second wave. In a worst-case scenario with a variant 50 per cent more transmissible, hospital admissions could surge to 10,000 per day or even double that (Thick lines indicate the central estimate while the thin lines are possible upper limits known as confidence intervals)
It led to Mr Johnson pleading with the public to use their common sense, warning there could be ‘hard choices in the weeks ahead’.
It was also revealed that the Indian variant has killed four people in Britain between May 5 and 12, out of 97 total Covid deaths in that period.
The figures saw Mr Johnson accused of being ‘reckless, misguided and dangerous’ for not shutting Britain’s borders with India earlier after 122 cases of the variant entered the UK from India before the country was added to ‘red list’ of countries requiring quarantine.
The PM defended his decision last night, but warned the variant could ‘pose a serious disruption’ to plans to ease restrictions and ‘could make it more difficult’ to end them as hoped in June.
Cases of the B.1.617.2 strain have more than doubled in the past week across the UK, with 1,313 cases detected by May 12, up from the 520 the previous week
Mr Johnson told a Downing Street press conference: ‘I do not believe that we need, on the present evidence, to delay our road map and we will proceed with our plan to move to step three in England from Monday.
‘But I have to level with you that this new variant could pose a serious disruption to our progress and could make it more difficult to move to Step 4 in June.’
He urged people to ‘think twice’ ahead of travelling to areas with higher incidences of the variant or staying with family and friends within those areas, adding they should ‘exercise their discretion and judgment in a way I’m sure that they have been throughout this pandemic’.
People queue for the vaccination centre at the Essa Academy in Bolton, with the Indian variant proving a significant threat
Other activity in Bolton and Blackburn with Darwen includes extending pop-up vaccination sites and increasing the vaccination capacity of local pharmacies.
There will also be a increased community engagement programme to ensure as many people as possible accept the vaccine, take regular tests and comply with self-isolation rules if they return a positive result.
Enhanced contact tracing and genomic sequencing to identify the variant is also being deployed across many parts of the North West.
Blackburn with Darwen Council initially said on Thursday that it would be offering vaccines to all over-18s from next week following the increase in cases, but later said that, although additional vaccine clinics are being set up, the jab will only be offered to those eligible under current Government guidance.
The area’s director of public health, Professor Dominic Harrison, said on Twitter that the authority had asked the NHS to ‘surge vaccinate’ but the request was refused.
He tweeted: ‘At the moment the Indian variant is surging in a small number of £localgov areas.
‘These areas have a window of opportunity to control the wider spread across the UK by a mixture of community engagement, surge testing and surge vaccination.
‘If the Government stops areas with high #IndianVariant cases from ‘surge vaccinating’ target areas (which will contribute to reduced transmission) – it will reduce our local capacity to control spread.’
In Bolton, the area with the highest rate of cases, with 553 new infections in the seven days to May 9, mobile testing units have been deployed and door-to-door PCR Covid testing has been offered to 22,000 residents.
A vaccine bus has been set up to increase uptake among those who are eligible and a rapid response team of 100 nurses, public health advisers and environmental health officers has been sent in.
In the affluent Formby area of Sefton, new drive-through and walk-through test centres were set up on Friday, specifically to identify the Indian variant.
Sefton’s director of public health Margaret Jones said: ‘Working with Public Health England, in response to a localised outbreak of infections and cases of the variant first identified in India, we have identified sites for test centres in and around Formby.
‘We are encouraging everyone aged over 16 who lives, works or studies in Formby to attend one of these dedicated local test sites, once they are open.
‘Anyone who has visited any venue in Formby over the last two weeks is also welcome to be tested at these test sites.’
Scientists believe the Indian variant is even more infectious than the highly virulent Kent strain currently dominant in the UK – but it is not yet clear by how much. There are no signs it is more deadly or resistant to vaccines.
The Prime Minister was criticised last night for not closing borders with India early enough, with the country only added to the UK’s travel ‘red list’ late last month, despite earlier concerns over transmission of the fast-growing variant.
Some have suggested that Mr Johnson was keen to keep relations strong with India, having planned a visit – which subsequently had to be cancelled – as part of efforts to negotiate a post-Brexit trade deal.
As a result, while flights were banned from neighbouring Pakistan early last month, borders between the two countries remained open for two more weeks, with as many as 8,000 people from India jetting into Britain on daily flights across that fortnight.
Data then shows 122 passengers entering the country from New Delhi and Mumbai between late March and April 26 were carrying the variant.
The opposition is now piling pressure on the PM, with Labour’s Deputy Leader Angela Rayner tweeting: ‘Boris Johnson’s decision to yet again refuse to learn from his mistakes and leave the borders open to arrivals from India without hotel quarantine is looking more and more reckless, misguided and dangerous by the hour.’
Layla Moran, the Lib Dem MP who chairs the all-party parliamentary group on coronavirus, added: ‘Boris Johnson must take responsibility for the failure to prevent the Indian variant taking root in the UK.
‘Once again the Government acted too late, and the country is sadly paying the price.’
Meanwhile, SAGE suggested the R rate for England had risen slightly to somewhere between 0.8 and 1.1, from a possible high of 1.0 last week. If the number is above one it will mean the outbreak is growing. The R rate – the number of people infected by each Covid case – is now almost redundant, however, because it is guaranteed to rise above one as lockdown is lifted and is particularly unreliable when case numbers are low
However, the PM used his Downing Street press conference on Friday evening to defend not shutting down travel sooner, saying that between March and April the South Africa variant was of greater concern than the India variant.’
‘Don’t forget everyone coming from India, or indeed anywhere else, had to face very tough quarantine rules,’ he added.
‘We are concerned about this variant and we do think, I think, that it certainly may cause disruption to our attempts to continue down the road map, but they don’t at the moment, change the assessment about about (the next) step.’
As SAGE outlined concerns over the variant, Mr Johnson’s former chief adviser Dominic Cummings was among those calling for caution, sharing a post on social media which said ‘the cost of another big wave is much higher than the cost of delaying the next stage of the roadmap’.
A Warwick University modelling team cautioned that, if the variant was 40 per cent more transmissible than the UK dominant Kent strain, the next surge could be worse than the second wave, with up to 6,000 daily hospital admissions.
A 50 per cent increase could lead to 10,000 admissions per day. However, less grisly numbers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine suggested a 50 per cent rise could lead to 4,000 per day.
It came as ministers revealed teenagers could be offered jabs as authorities battle to bring the outbreaks under control, with one pharmacy in Sefton offering walk-in jabs for anyone over 20.
Ten million vulnerable Britons are also being fast-tracked for their second Covid dose over fears the new strain could spark a deadly third wave.
And the Independent SAGE group said: ‘In the light of the new variant, we consider that any increase of mixing in indoor spaces (whether domestic or commercial) to be highly inadvisable, particularly in areas with already proven high levels of B.1.617.2.
‘Accordingly, local directors of public health should have the discretion to determine when the relaxation of measures can safely occur.
‘Additionally, indoor commercial spaces should only be allowed to reopen if they can maintain adequate social distancing and have proper ventilation, with a priority program of inspection developed in co-operation with the Health and Safety Executive.’
Earlier, top infectious disease expert Professor Paul Hunter, from the University of East Anglia, warned the June end of lockdown will be ‘in doubt’ if the variant causes a surge in serious illness, threatening to send the Government’s unlocking plans into chaos.
Ministers are so far resisting calls to slow the roadmap, insisting the current vaccines roll-out is able to cope. PHE Covid variant expert Professor Nick Loman, from Birmingham University, said the Indian variant’s effect on vaccines is ‘not particularly concerning’.
Meanwhile, SAGE suggested the R rate for England had risen slightly to somewhere between 0.8 and 1.1, from a possible high of 1.0 last week. If the number is above one it will mean the outbreak is growing. The R rate – the number of people infected by each Covid case – is now almost redundant, however, because it is guaranteed to rise above one as lockdown is lifted and is particularly unreliable when case numbers are low.
Another 2,183 daily Covid cases were announced across the UK, down 12 per cent on last week, and another 17 deaths were recorded, which were up slightly on the 15 last Friday.
Professor Loman said the mutations carried by the Indian strain do not seem to allow it to dodge vaccine-gained immunity.
‘The mutations we see in the genome are not predicted to have a big impact on the shape of the protein and change how antibodies produced by the natural infection or the vaccine will work,’ he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
An emergency meeting will be held by experts at the Government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies committee on Thursday after it was found that India’s Covid variant is now dominant in five local authorities in England. There are mounting concerns that it is more infectious than the currently dominant Kent strain
‘And the limited experimental data available on vaccine efficacy is not particularly concerning… The thing that makes it reassuring is that the vaccines work really well and we do have options in, as you say, changing the dosing schedule and changing the way we approach vaccinations.’
The Birmingham University scientist added it was possible accelerating cases were being driven by a large number of imports from abroad, rather than the virus being more transmissible.
‘We know the virus is growing very fast and particularly in certain regions of the UK but that does not necessarily mean that the virus is more transmissible.
‘Last summer… we imported very large numbers of cases from holidaymakers – predominantly returning from Spain – and that produced the same fast growth rate that we see, but then levelled off.
‘Simply because the propoulsive force of having so many imports all at the same time, and that produced that fast growth rate but then it levelled off. And in retrospect we didn’t think that that variant was more transmissible.’
Epidemiologist Professor Paul Hunter said that the nation faces an anxious wait to see how serious the outbreaks of the highly contagious strain are and how many people end up in hospital.
But Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi said that England’s inoculation roll-out would ‘flex’ to tackle the outbreak and the roadmap would continue as planned.
He insisted that the jab could control the impact of the virus strain which has led to hundreds of thousands of deaths in India.
Some local health chiefs are taking matters into their own hands and Hirshman Pharmacy in Sefton, Merseyside – one of the hotspots – offered a walk-in clinic giving the Pfizer jab to anyone over the age of 20, the Liverpool Echo reported.
Scientists are trying to work out if it is more infectious than previous strains.
Modelling by the Government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies warned that if it proves to be a lot more transmissible than the currently dominant Kent version then it could result in a third wave deadlier than the second.
No10’s scientists said it could trigger up to 20,000 hospital admissions per day in a worst-case scenario. January’s peak, which nearly crippled the NHS, was around 3,800 a day in England.
A Warwick University modelling team cautioned that if it was 40 per cent more transmissible the next surge could be worse than the second wave, with up to 6,000 daily admissions, and a 50 per cent increase could lead to 10,000 per day.
Step 4 of England’s lockdown-easing plans, involving the almost complete end to Covid restrictions, is due to take place on June 21 if there are no setbacks.
But speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Prof Hunter, who has worked for the World Health Organization, said: ‘The big question is how many people who are getting the Indian variant will end up requiring hospitalisation.
‘At the moment the hospitalisation rate doesn’t seem to be increasing yet although if this becomes much more common we will almost certainly see some increase.
‘So it’s certainly a concern. I think Step 4 is in doubt in June now, but we really need to see what impact it has on severe disease before we can really be certain.’
Asked why June 21 is in doubt, he said: ‘Well, because if the epidemic continues to increase, if the Indian variant of the epidemic continues to increase at the same rate as it has over recent weeks, we’re going to have a huge number of cases by June.
‘The issue though is that because it seems to be spreading in unvaccinated younger people at the moment and not yet that much more active in older people maybe we’ll be able to weather it and we’ll still be able to have the step four in June.
‘But if that increases cases in elderly and starts to increase hospitalisations, and puts pressure on the NHS again then I think step four would be in doubt.’
Older people living in areas of high infection are also to be offered their second dose of the vaccine early to protect them.
It means a total of ten million people who are considered to be most vulnerable could have their second doses of the vaccine brought forward to prevent them getting hospitalised if Britain faces a third wave, The Times reported.
Mr Zahawi said that adults as young as 18 could be offered the jab if they live in multi-generational households.
‘The clinicians will look at all of this to see how we can flex the vaccination programme to make it as effective as possible to deal with this surge in this variant, the B1617.2,’ he told Sky News.
‘They will make those decisions and we will be ready to implement, whether it’s vaccinating younger cohorts.
‘We have been doing some work on multi-generational households where we vaccinate the whole household, over-18s, and of course the older groups who are already eligible.’
Professor John Edmunds, epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a member of Sage, said that at this stage, efforts should be focused on local measures.
He said: ‘We should look at whatever we can locally in terms of containing the spread. That’s a much better way of doing it. It’s still fairly isolated.
‘It’s only if it gets out there and it becomes more widespread, that more widespread measures might be necessary.’
But Dr Deepti Gurdasani, a lecturer in epidemiology at Queen Mary’s University of London, told Times Radio: ‘If it’s growing now, with current restrictions, we can’t afford to be easing restrictions.
‘We are seeing rapid exponential growth. And if we ease restrictions further, that’s leading us straight into another lockdown.’
Professor Christina Pagel, the director of the clinical operational research unit and a member of the Independent Sage group of experts, said in The Guardian on Wednesday that the rate at which cases of the new variant were increasing showed the lifting of lockdown restrictions should be delayed.
Dominic Cummings then shared a separate Tweet saying that if there was only a 20 per cent chance that Professor Pagel was correct, ‘the cost of another big wave is much higher than the cost of delaying the next stage of the Roadmap’ – suggesting he supports a delay in lifting lockdown restrictions.
Professor Ravi Gutpa, a professor of clinical microbiology at Cambridge University, said it was 50:50 whether restrictions would be eased on June 21.
He told Sky News: ‘The problem is that (the variant) has seeded so quickly that it’s probably spread to other areas.
‘So we may get dissemination of the virus before the vaccine has taken effect. It’s going to be a difficult decision and it’s 50:50 at the moment.’
Steve Baker, of the 70-strong Covid Recovery Group of Tory MPs, said ministers should not be considering extending lockdowns.
He added: ‘Why on Earth would we lock down when the vaccines continue to break the link between cases and hospitalisations and deaths?’
The case count was on a par with last Thursday’s – a 1.7 per cent rise from 2,613 — but the number of positive test results have been rising for over a week, with fears growing about the highly infectious Indian variant that is spreading quickly.
Deaths were down 15 per cent, continuing three months of decline, and hospital admissions are also still tumbling thanks to the vaccine rollout.
11th hour deal to SAVE Portugal trips: Insider hints that holidays for thousands of Britons could be back on as Lisbon officials plead with EU to end travel ban due to ‘millions of pounds at stake’
UK tourists still hoping to visit Portugal from Monday could have their holidays saved as the country holds crunch talks with the EU about non-essential travel.
Portugal had been expected to lift its ban on European tourists entering – including Britons – from Sunday, but reports then followed that this might not be until May 30.
The move would mean Britons with holidays booked there next week – to coincide with the UK’s own travel ban being lifted on Monday – face having them cancelled.
It would also block thousands of football fans who have booked tickets for the Champions League final in Porto between Chelsea and Manchester City on May 29.
People in the UK have been venting their fury after their holidays to Lisbon, Faro and Porto were thrown into doubt – but there are now claims that they could still happen.
One senior travel industry insider told MailOnline: ‘Portugal are in discussions with the EU today about relaxing the rules on allowing non-essential travel in the bloc.
‘So there is still a chance that the 20 flights could still happen on Monday. But if there is a deal there may not be an announcement until the 11th hour.
‘The airlines are in the dark – although they may be lobbying in Brussels – but I’m optimistic there will be an agreement. I’m confident that this will be sorted.
‘The Portuguese want to open up because there are millions of pounds at stake. I think this is an EU decision, but the Portuguese are working hard to get this done.’
Among the tourists worried about their upcoming holiday are Sue and Sean Flynn, both 55 and from Leeds, who are hoping to fly to Faro with Ryanair next Friday.
Sue Flynn, 55, from Leeds, is hoping to fly on holiday to Faro with Ryanair next Friday. She spoke to Charlie Stayt and Naga Munchetty on BBC Breakfast this morning
Ryanair aircraft and ancillary equipment are prepared at London Stansted Airport this morning
Britons still hoping to travel to Portugal when it is added to the UK’s ‘green list’ in three days’ time can snap up a flight from London to Faro or Porto for as little as £17 return
Mrs Flynn told BBC Breakfast this morning: ‘We’ve booked with Ryanair to go on a flight and we’ve booked the accommodation as well, my husband and I.
‘We’ve been trying since last year really to get away. We have a holiday business in Kalkan in Turkey, and we’ve not been able to get there since October.
‘We’ve had four flights cancelled, and when we thought that Portugal was going on the green list, we thought, well, we’ll change to there.
‘But unfortunately this has come along, to throw a curveball, and here we are again looking at potentially cancelled flights – it’s really frustrating.’
Mrs Flynn said she and her husband have both had their two Covid-19 vaccines and are ‘very, very careful’ having been shielding for much of the pandemic.
She added: ‘We’ve been used to taking our own precautions and looking after ourselves. The flight, I believe, is as safe as a flight can be.
‘We have self-catering accommodation. So as far as I’m concerned we can look after ourselves. But I do understand the overall concerns for everyone flopping off to a holiday.’
Mrs Flynn continued: ‘I think we’ve all got used to not knowing, and it really takes away the shine off going on holiday and being able to look forward to it.
‘Instead you’re worrying and wondering – is it actually going to happen?
‘It may or it may not, and we’ll just have to live with that if it doesn’t unfortunately, and try and get refunds from the operators that we’ve booked with.’
Other tourists took to Twitter to share their concerns about holidays this month to Portugal. One said: ‘I have just changed holiday from Lanzarote, now going to Portugal, but it’s saying not open for holiday. We go May 30, very worried now.’
Another tweeted: ‘I’m flying to Faro next Thursday. Is holiday likely to be cancelled due to recent news about Portugal? How far in advance will you make a decision.’
A third tourist hoping for a holiday in Portugal said they had got ‘sucked in by green list this and that’.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Tuesday that as of May 17 the ‘stay in the UK’ restriction will lift, meaning people will be able to travel to green list countries such as Portugal without self-isolating on their return.
But guidance published on the Portuguese government’s website on Thursday stated that ministers had approved a move to continue the current level of lockdown.
UK holidaymakers are currently prohibited from entering the European Union, but holiday firms have reported huge demand for trips to Portugal following the publication of the green list.
EasyJet has added 105,000 extra seat to its flights serving green tier destinations, while Tui plans to use aircraft which normally operate long-haul routes to accommodate the surge of people booked to fly to Portugal.
A spokesman for Tui said: ‘We’re monitoring the situation closely and will provide a further update as soon as we have clarification from the Portuguese government.
‘We would like to reassure customers that we will contact them directly if their flight or holiday is impacted to discuss their options, this includes offering a full refund or the chance to change the holiday for free.’
The Portuguese archipelago of Madeira is open for tourism.
Thousands of British football fans are hoping to travel to Porto in mainland Portugal for the all-English Champions League final between Manchester City and Chelsea on May 29.
The final had previously been due to be held in Istanbul but was moved to Portugal following talks between UK ministers and UEFA organisers after Turkey was added to England’s travel red list.
Uefa previously confirmed that 6,000 tickets would be made available to each of the finalists, with the final capacity limit at the Estadio do Dragao still to be fixed.
However, officials in Lisbon suggested the Portuguese cabinet talks about Covid concerned extending the country’s official ‘state of calamity’ and would not change the lifting of the travel ban.
People enjoy the sunshine on the beach at Nazare in Portugal in August 2016
The Champions League final in Porto is between Chelsea and Manchester City and it is hoped 6,000 fans from each club will attend. Pictured: Man City and Chelsea fans at Wembley in 2019
They said it related to its ability to introduce emergency Covid legislation and would not include tourism, which they said was still expected to be given the green light from Sunday.
A formal announcement clarifying the situation is expected later.
It came as the BBC reported that the Portuguese government will require UK football fans to fly in and out of the country on the day of the match.
Fans will also have to stay in a ‘bubble’ while in the city.
The country’s cabinet affairs minister, Mariana Vieira da Silva, said: ‘Those who come to the final of the Champions League will come and return on the same day, with a test done, in a bubble situation, on charter flights.
‘There will be two fan zones and from there they will be moved to the stadium and from the stadium to the airport, being in Portugal less than 24 hours.’
Air fares from London and Manchester to Porto soared after the final was moved there.
On Friday May 21, Ryanair had seats on an early flight from Manchester to Porto for £10.
A week later, the day before the final, the same flight cost £288 as seats started being snapped up.
Other flights before or on the day of the final were going for £300 or more.
According to the BBC, Ms Vieira da Silva said in a briefing yesterday she had ‘no information to give yet’ when asked if restrictions on travel from the UK would soon be lifted.
Cristovao Norte, Portuguese MP for the Algarve, said a decision should be taken ‘immediately’.
He told BBC Breakfast on Friday: ‘We are today going to make an urgent inquiry asking the (Portuguese) government whether or not the English travel can come to Portugal next Monday because we are three days ahead from 17th and no one is sure what is going to happen.
‘Our vaccination process is going steadily and it is important a decision is taken immediately.
‘The message is clear: there are no reasons, nor political or scientific reasons to maintain restrictions for travel from the UK to Portugal.’
Ms Vieira da Silva said under current plans for the Champions League final, a series of restrictions to British fans would apply.
As well as the limit on ticket sales, fans will have to fly in on charter planes, arriving and leaving ‘on the same day’, the BBC said.
Ms Vieira da Silva described the plans as ‘a bubble situation’, with fans passing through a separate zone at the airport and needing a negative coronavirus test before travelling.
Guidance from the Department of Transport warns that many green list countries still have restrictions on UK travellers.
It advises passengers to check all entry and testing requirements and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) travel advice for Portugal before booking travel.
It is understood the UK Government has been in discussion with Portuguese representatives this week to discuss plans to unlock travel between the two countries.
The Government is also in talks with the European Commission on how to safely reopen travel routes on the continent, it is understood.
During the ‘state of calamity’, entry to Portugal is only allowed if you are a returning resident, according to information on the FCDO website.
Entry to non-residents is limited to essential purposes from the UK and other non-EU countries, and EU or European Economic Area countries where the case rate is above 150 cases per 100,000 residents.
‘Essential purposes’ are defined as travelling to live with immediate family members or professional, educational, health or humanitarian reasons.
To enter Portugal, proof of a negative Covid-19 test taken with 72 hours of departure is required.
Those without proof of a negative test can be refused permission to board a flight, or may be forced to quarantine in government-approved accommodation upon arrival.