Brits who flocked to Portugal for a foreign holiday are fuming after the government removed the tourist hotspot from the green list.
Tourists reacted with fury and disbelief after the European country was put into the amber list meaning travellers will have to quarantine on their return.
Portugal was the only major European destination Brits were allowed to visit without quarantining in the first green list, with the other options including the remote Faroe Islands, and St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha - a rocky island in the South Atlantic.
Australia and New Zealand were also on the list - but both countries have shut their borders to holidaymakers.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said there needed to be a "safety first approach" as he confirmed the move ahead of an official update on the traffic light system on Wednesday afternoon.
Speaking from Lisbon Brit tourists called the decision 'unfair.'
John Joyce, from Newcastle, and his family decided to book a holiday as soon as Portugal was placed on the green list of foreign destinations about three weeks ago.
"Everybody needed a little break... a change from being stuck at home," the 44-year-old said as he enjoyed a beer at a restaurant in the heart of Lisbon.
"It's a bit unfair," he said. "There are families bringing out kids and people who booked their holidays already...and the stress involved for people, including myself."
Charlotte Cheddle, a 22-year-old from England, echoed the same feelings, urging the British government to either "ban international travel completely or communicate properly with people".
"It's silly," she said. "We made an effort to get tested privately...We paid for everything and we have done everything to make it safe."
Charlotte, like many others, will now have to quarantine for 10 days when she flies back.
The Mail Online reports an Albufeira-based bar owner Gary Search, 54, saying he was 'absolutely devastated' by the decision.
He said: "One of the bars is 98 per cent British tourists and in the other about 50 per cent of our customers are Brits who are also mostly holidaymakers. We're absolutely devastated by today's decision.
"We'd literally just got off the ground, we'd been scrabbling around all week getting new staff because obviously we couldn't employ the staff till we got busy.
"There's no staff here because of Brexit and Covid so it's been extremely difficult. We'd just put them all on contracts and then this happens. It's messed things right up to be honest."
The country of just over 10 million people reported 769 new Covid cases on Thursday, the highest daily increase since early April.
Total infections now stand at 851,031.
The government's decision will be a blow for Portugal's tourism industry, which represents a large chunk of GDP and has Britain as one of its biggest foreign markets.
"It's not great for businesses but slowly we will get there - or at least I really hope so because our economy is down," said restaurant manager Ana Paula Gomes in Lisbon.
The head of the hotels' association in the touristy Algarve region, Eliderico Viegas, said Britain's move would hit the sector like a "bucket of cold water".
