Brits are facing a race to return home within days after the Government announced Portugal is to be moved from the 'green' travel list to 'amber'.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps confirmed today that the holiday hotspot, including the islands of Madeira and the Azores, will be removed from the green list from 4am on Tuesday.
That means anyone returning to the UK from Portugal after then will have to follow amber list rules, including quarantine.
The Amber list rules are as follows;
- You'll need to self-isolate at home for 10 days, taking a PCR test on days two and five.
- You can be released early from self-isolation with a negative result on day five, otherwise you will need to take another test on day eight.
Sri Lanka, Egypt and five other countries are set to be added to the most stringent red list, requiring travellers to isolate in a Government-approved hotel.
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Afghanistan, Bahrain, Costa Rica, Sudan, and Trinidad and Tobago will also be placed on the red list, meaning people arriving in the UK from those nations will be required to stay in a quarantine hotel for 11 nights.
No countries have been added to the green list, despite speculation that some Spanish and Greek islands, plus Malta, would be added.
Labour criticised the "chaos" as reports about the restrictions dripped out of the Government ahead of official confirmation and travel bosses said the move will cause "untold damage to customer confidence".
In an interview, Tory Minister Grant Shapps said: "I want to be straight with people, it's actually a difficult decision to make, but in the end we've seen two things really which caused concern.
"One is the positivity rate has nearly doubled since the last review in Portugal and the other is there's a sort of Nepal mutation of the so-called Indian variant which has been detected.
"We just don't know the potential for that to be vaccine-defeating mutation and simply don't want to take the risk as we come up to June 21 and the review of the fourth stage of the unlock."
Andrew Flintham, the managing director of the TUI UK travel group, blasted the announcement as "another step back for our industry".
"After promises that the Global Travel Taskforce would result in a clear framework, removing the damaging flip flopping we all endured last summer, the Government decision to move Portugal straight from green to amber will do untold damage to customer confidence," he said.
"We were reassured that a green watch list would be created and a weeks' notice would be given so travellers wouldn't have to rush back home. They have failed on this promise."
Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye added: "Ministers spent last month hailing the restart of international travel, only to close it down three weeks later all but guaranteeing another lost summer for the travel sector.
"If the Government is serious about protecting UK jobs and supporting businesses across the country, rapid action is needed to reopen flights to key trading partners, remove testing for vaccinated passengers from 'green' countries, and slash the cost and complexity of testing, as other G7 countries are doing."
Many holidaymakers in Portugal face a scramble for flights home before the move is introduced.
Shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds MP said: "The UK Government have caused chaos with the mishandling of travel restrictions at the border.
"The confusion over the 'amber list' has led to reports of over 50,000 people travelling to the UK daily, with only a tiny percentage going into hotel quarantine and a stream of flights entering the UK from 'Amber List' countries.
"Labour has warned time and time again that this is leaving the door wide open to new strains of the virus.
"Moving Portugal onto the 'Amber List' is not the answer. The 'Amber List' itself should be scrapped."
The Government's move is a huge blow for the travel industry, as the country was the only viable major tourist destination on the green list.
It is only 17 days since the ban on non-essential leisure travel from Britain was lifted.
Portugal's seven-day rate of coronavirus cases per 100,000 people stands at 37.2, up from 30.7 a week earlier.
