Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has announced that travellers from seven Greek islands will need to self-isolate when they return to England from 4am on Wednesday, September 9.

It comes after Mr Shapps said that some islands will be removed from quarantine restrictions separately to countries as a whole.

England to create 'regional travel corridoors'

He said: “The JBC (joint biosecurity centre) and this Government are therefore at present unable to introduce regional travel corridors from within the geographical boundaries of a nation-state.

“However, when a region has natural boundaries like an island, for example, the risk diminishes significantly.

“That presents us with a real opportunity. Our passenger locator form, combined with NHS Test and Trace, will give us a clear picture, and has been starting to give us a clear picture, of exactly where infections are coming from.

“As a result, I can today announce a new islands policy.

“For the first time we have the data and the capacity to add and remove specific islands from quarantine while still providing maximum protection to the UK public.”

Which Greek islands will travellers need to self-isolate when then they return to the UK?

Mr Shapps added that seven Greek islands will be removed from the UK’s travel corridor list at 4am on Wednesday, September 9.

The full list of islands are:

  • Crete
  • Santorini
  • Mykonos
  • Zakynthos (Zante)
  • Lesvos
  • Tinos
  • Serifos

What has Mr Shapps told MPs?

He told MPs: “However, it is worth noting that the policy will not necessarily open up additional islands immediately.

“For example, when we removed Spain from the travel corridor list there were 24 cases per 100,000. Today there are 127 cases and it remains too high in the Balearic and Canary Islands as well.

“On the other hand, Greece remains within our travel corridor programme, but our new analysis shows that some of the islands are well outside of the parameters.”

Mr Shapps added: “However, using our newly-acquired JBC data we are now in a position to remove Greek islands where holidaymakers are at risk of spreading the new infection back home, and seven Greek islands will therefore be removed from the travel list at 4am on Wednesday 9 September, whilst maintaining mainland Greece.”

What has the reaction been to the announcement?

A Heathrow Airport spokeswoman said: “We welcome the Transport Secretary’s announcement that testing to shorten quarantine is under active consideration by the Government and that air bridges to islands will now be instated where appropriate.

“If introduced, these vital policy changes would show the Government understands how critical the restoration of air travel is to this country’s economic recovery.

"The Government needs to build on these developments and show global leadership to establish Common International Standards for testing before flight.”