Canary Islands added to UK quarantine list

Browntoa

I'm in a couple of Facebook groups for Lanzarote

There are only 477 ICU beds in the canary islands , 73 of them do not have respirators . Before the increase in the last few weeks the occupancy was 46% for those with respirators . The islands don't have the capacity or capabilities of coping with huge increases in cases and are already looking at field hospitals.

And worse still many of the British are ignoring the Spanish face mask rules and wandering round like they are at home.

I have sympathy for anyone who booked a holiday there before march 2020 but none for people who booked a cheap holiday in the last few weeks . If you booked recently then you should have been aware that no fly rules would change or Spain closed the islands borders to us 

ripofflondon

Browntoa said:

I'm in a couple of Facebook groups for Lanzarote

There are only 477 ICU beds in the canary islands , 73 of them do not have respirators . Before the increase in the last few weeks the occupancy was 46% for those with respirators . The islands don't have the capacity or capabilities of coping with huge increases in cases and are already looking at field hospitals.

And worse still many of the British are ignoring the Spanish face mask rules and wandering round like they are at home.

I have sympathy for anyone who booked a holiday there before march 2020 but none for people who booked a cheap holiday in the last few weeks . If you booked recently then you should have been aware that no fly rules would change or Spain closed the islands borders to us 

Aware that the no-fly rules COULD change, not that they WOULD. 

Also don't quite agree with the 6.57AM post that says Brits shouldn't be going there so as to avoid bringing the infection in when NO Brit will be allowed to go there without proof that they DON'T have Covid-19. 

I am (or was?) due to fly to TFS on 18 Dec and back to STN on 1 Jan with Wizz Air.  But this appeared today - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55271262 

I don't mind self-isolating when I get back as I work from home anyway and I'll just get myself tested (5 days?) after I get back at a govt place.  But, if the FCDO changes its advice and the TUI holidays are cancelled, that may well mean my Wizz flights get cancelled too.  Bl00dy stupid, as you CAN still get travel insurance for ‘avoid all but essential travel’ places – it costs a bit more and it doesn’t cover you for claims arising out of the reason the place is blacklisted for, but not insurmountable.  I’ve had this a few times over the years – India (Kashmir), Algeria (Kabylie) etc etc

silvercar

Not sure this will stop people travelling. They will isolate at home for 5 days on return. If that happens to be over Xmas then so be it (though given our country’s lax checking of isolation, I suspect for a fair few it will be Xmas at the home of the isolating, so they don’t get caught being out and about, but no one is checking whether they have visitors.

mattyprice4004

welshmoneylover said:

We know ...

I didn't, so arguably your post was more pointless than the OP.

ripofflondon

Now I suppose it's a waiting game to see if the FCDO changes its travel advice for the Canaries (and if any flights consequently get cancelled).  I emailed the FCDO this AM and, when I hit 'send' got shown a phone number.  So I thought I'd give it a call and see if could speak to anyone and it turned out to be a UK Consulate in Spain. 

V helpful guy, said he didn't yet know whether the advice was going to change but that if it did change, and UK people were already in-country when it did, their travel insurance wouldn't be invalidated provided it hadn't said 'avoid all but essential' at the point they entered the country.  Interesting side-point - what would happen if the advice were to change while you were in the air en-route to the Canaries?! 

Also confirmed that flights wouldn't necessarily be cancelled if the advice were to change; TUI's plan to do so if it does = a commercial decision for them and not because the airports would close. 

Finally confirmed that although the FCDO website still refers to the PCR COVID test being the one needed for entry to Spain, the Spanish Govt one DOES now state that the TMA one is acceptable - https://www.thelocal.es/20201210/spain-modifies-covid-test-requirements-for-travellers - on another thread on this forum the Canary Islands tourism site says the antigen test will be accepted, but a) that's not Spanish govt and b) the antigen test appears not to be available in the UK. 

ripofflondon

YIPPEE!  FCDO Travel advice has just been updated (I signed up for email updates) - https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/spain - Canaries still are not 'avoid all but essential' but people will have to self-isolate upon return to the UK.  And it still talks about having to get a PCR test - hopefully that will be clarified by early-mid next week.

silvercar

V helpful guy, said he didn't yet know whether the advice was going to change but that if it did change, and UK people were already in-country when it did, their travel insurance wouldn't be invalidated provided it hadn't said 'avoid all but essential' at the point they entered the country.

He really shouldn’t be giving out advice like that. Just before lockdown 2 in England I asked the same question of my insurer and they said if I went away before the rules changed, but knowing that the rules were going to change when I was away, I wouldn’t be covered from the time the rule changed.

ripofflondon

silvercar said:

V helpful guy, said he didn't yet know whether the advice was going to change but that if it did change, and UK people were already in-country when it did, their travel insurance wouldn't be invalidated provided it hadn't said 'avoid all but essential' at the point they entered the country.

He really shouldn’t be giving out advice like that. Just before lockdown 2 in England I asked the same question of my insurer and they said if I went away before the rules changed, but knowing that the rules were going to change when I was away, I wouldn’t be covered from the time the rule changed.

I can see why your travel insurance co might say that.

But I, in response, would say to them 'HOW would I have known whether the rules were going to change or not?'

silvercar

ripofflondon said:

silvercar said:

V helpful guy, said he didn't yet know whether the advice was going to change but that if it did change, and UK people were already in-country when it did, their travel insurance wouldn't be invalidated provided it hadn't said 'avoid all but essential' at the point they entered the country.

He really shouldn’t be giving out advice like that. Just before lockdown 2 in England I asked the same question of my insurer and they said if I went away before the rules changed, but knowing that the rules were going to change when I was away, I wouldn’t be covered from the time the rule changed.

I can see why your travel insurance co might say that.

But I, in response, would say to them 'HOW would I have known whether the rules were going to change or not?'

To be clear. boris had announced that people in England would be banned from leisure travel from the following Saturday, I was due to travel on the Thursday. My insurer said that if I go on the Thursday, knowing that the rules would change on Saturday, I would only be covered until Saturday. So I did know in advance of my flight that the rules were changing.

ripofflondon

silvercar said:

ripofflondon said:

silvercar said:

V helpful guy, said he didn't yet know whether the advice was going to change but that if it did change, and UK people were already in-country when it did, their travel insurance wouldn't be invalidated provided it hadn't said 'avoid all but essential' at the point they entered the country.

He really shouldn’t be giving out advice like that. Just before lockdown 2 in England I asked the same question of my insurer and they said if I went away before the rules changed, but knowing that the rules were going to change when I was away, I wouldn’t be covered from the time the rule changed.

I can see why your travel insurance co might say that.

But I, in response, would say to them 'HOW would I have known whether the rules were going to change or not?'

To be clear. boris had announced that people in England would be banned from leisure travel from the following Saturday, I was due to travel on the Thursday. My insurer said that if I go on the Thursday, knowing that the rules would change on Saturday, I would only be covered until Saturday. So I did know in advance of my flight that the rules were changing.

OIC, THOSE rules.  Yes, you do get some notice when lockdown rules are about to change.  You don't when it's FCDO travel advice.