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Italy extends quarantine requirement for travellers from UK

The Local
The Local - [email protected]
Italy extends quarantine requirement for travellers from UK
(Photo by ANDREAS SOLARO / AFP)

The Italian government announced on Thursday evening that the requirement for all travellers from the UK to quarantine for five days after arrival would be extended into next month.

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Italy initially reinstated quarantine and double-testing requirements for all arrivals from the UK (including anyone who has transited there within the past 14 days) on June 21st amid concern about the Delta variant-driven surge in coronavirus cases in Britain.

The quarantine rule was set to end on Friday July 30th but on Thursday evening the country's Minister of Health Roberto Speranza announced on Facebook that compulsory quarantine would remain in place for all arrivals from the UK including those who are fully vaccinated.

READ ALSO: How should travellers from the UK quarantine in Italy?

The rule will be extended until at least August 30th, according to the ordinance.

"I have just signed an order extending the restrictive measures regarding entry into Italy from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Brazil," said Speranza.
 
"The 10-day quarantine for non-European countries is confirmed, except for those on the EU-recommended list for which quarantine is reduced to 5 days.
 
"Mini quarantine is confirmed also from Britain."
 
 

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He did however announce that Italy would recognise the vaccination certificates or so-called health passes for travellers from the UK for use in Italy. Italy will begin asking members of the public to show their green passes to gain entry into certain places from August 6th.
 
But no more details were added about whether health passes and QR codes stored on the UK's NHS app would be recognised.
 
"Vaccination and health certificates can be used for green pass purposes in Italian territory," he said, adding "For the European countries and Schengen area, as well as Canada, Japan, and the United States, the green pass requirements entry regime is extended."

As Italy is not currently making any exemptions for those who are vaccinated, and with steep fines for anyone found not following the rules, this "mini-quarantine" has proven a big problem for many of The Local’s UK-based readers - particularly those who had been planning to visit Italy this summer for shorter periods to attend weddings and other events.

Even those who were planning longer trips have had to rethink plans, not least because low demand resulted in airlines slashing the number of flights available on UK-Italy routes.

This week the UK announced that from Monday August 2nd it would allow travellers vaccinated in European countries (apart from France) including Italy to travel to the UK without the need for the mandatory 10-day quarantine

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Anonymous 2021/08/03 09:16
So if you are a green-pass holding Italian resident (but EU or UK citizen) who visits the UK, do you still have to do the 5 days’ quarantine and test on return here to Italy (home)? All rather confusing? Any advice very welcome!
Anonymous 2021/07/30 10:56
Bit confused here. So a UK arrival needs to quarantine for 5 days ‘as-is. Italy will accept the data from the NHS app as a ‘green card’. But will not recognise the QR code? (Probably because the tech infrastructure doesn’t read it.) Is that correct?

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