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LONDON, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Britain has no choice but to
impose a 14-day quarantine on all travellers arriving from
France after 0300 GMT on Saturday due to rising infection rates
there, transport minister Grant Shapps said on Friday.
Britain's government announced late on Thursday that it
would impose a quarantine on arrivals from France, the
Netherlands and Malta because COVID-19 infection rates there are
too high.
France warned that it would reciprocate the measures.
On Friday Shapps said he sympathised with travellers but
that they should not be entirely surprised, given the fluid
situation around the COVID-19 pandemic.
"It's a dynamic situation, and I don't think that anybody...
would want us to do anything other than protect public health
and public safety," Shapps told Sky News.
"That does mean where we see countries breach a certain
level of cases ... then we have no real choice but to act," he
added.
As well as the quarantine policy, Britain advised against
all but essential travel to France - a step that often triggers
travel insurance claims and makes it hard for new travellers to
have coverage.
In July Britain replaced a policy of blanket travel
restrictions with "travel corridors" to countries with low
infection rates.
But later that month Britain introduced the quarantine
measure for Spain, to the consternation of travel operators and
airlines, and it has placed restrictions on Belgium and
Luxembourg too.
For British holidaymakers, France is the second most-visited
country behind Spain, and Britain provides more tourists to
France than any other country.
(Reporting by Alistair Smout, editing by David Milliken)
