A group of UK passengers flying to Mexico are devastated after they found out the country is set to go on the red list.
The government announced yesterday which countries were set to face tougher Covid travel restrictions - and Georgia, Mayotte and Reunion all joined the Central American tourist hotspot.
Gutted Brits were on a British Airways flight to Cancun when they discovered the government had made the shock decision - as Mirror Online reports.
READ MORE: Every country on green list, amber list and red list after travel list update
Travellers returning to England from a red list country will be forced to quarantine in a managed hotel for 10 days - which is currently priced at £1,750 per solo traveller.
However, this is set to increase on August 12 to £2,285 - and families who had booked to go to Mexico are now desperately trying to book immediate flights home to avoid paying thousands.
Those landing in England after 4am on Sunday will now be subject to Government -mandated hotel quarantine.
James Dean, 38, from Bournemouth had already spent £8,000 on a fortnight in Cancun with wife Rebecca and their four children Lilly, 16, Jack, 13, Isabella, nine, and Fred, six.
James, an office manager, said: "That has just shocked me. I'm gutted to be honest.
"The kids have all been looking forward to it and there's no way I'm going straight back but this just messes everything up.
"Don't get me wrong, you know there's a risk, but Mexico was never mentioned. They could have given us a week's notice.
"I'm going have to pay for us all to go in to quarantine as well. I'm still digesting it. I'm just gobsmacked."
Nurse Rebecca added: "I don't know what to say really. I'm gutted."
The British Airways flight departing from London Gatwick at 11.25 on Wednesday was packed with families on long awaited holidays.
Claire, 30, from south London, said: "I had access to the Wifi so I found out in mid air.
"I just wanted to grab the tannoy and tell everyone because I could see all these families looking forward to their holiday and it was obvious they didn't know.
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"It's crazy the lack of notice. I had no inkling Mexico was about to go on the Red List."
Transport secretary Grant Shapps announced in the latest travel review that four countries are moving to the red list due to their concerning Coronavirus data.
He said: “[The countries] present a high public health risk to the UK from known variants of concern, known high-risk variants under investigation or as a result of very high in-country or territory prevalence of COVID-19."
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