London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Jan 14, 2026

Poland and Turkey added to UK's quarantine list

Poland and Turkey added to UK's quarantine list

Travellers arriving in the UK from Poland, Turkey and three Caribbean islands will have to self-isolate for 14 days from 04:00 on Saturday.

Poland's infection rate has risen, while the UK government said it removed Turkey over concerns about the way the country reports its data.

There will also be tougher fines for those who fail to self-isolate - up to a maximum of £10,000 in England.

One airport group says it is a "further blow" to a "struggling" sector.

The UK reported a further 6,914 coronavirus cases and 59 deaths on Thursday, and stricter measures have been announced to control a spike in areas of northern England.

Announcing the changes to the quarantine list, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said data from Poland showed that "test positivity has nearly doubled increasing from 3.9% to 5.8% alongside a rapid increase in weekly cases".

Poland is reporting 25.9 coronavirus cases per 100,000 people, up from 15.6.

Arrivals from the Caribbean islands of Bonaire, St Eustatius and Saba will also have to quarantine from Saturday, he added.

Those islands reported 142.4 new cases per 100,000, unchanged from 142.4 the previous week.

Meanwhile, the Scottish Government announced that those arriving from the Portuguese islands of the Azores and Madeira will no longer need to quarantine in Scotland "due to the low number of cases".

The Azores and Madeira were already on the "exempt" list for the rest of the UK.

The Scottish government's statement added that it was "clear that case numbers in Turkey have been under-reported".

Turkey's reported infection rate has dropped to 12.9 cases per 100,000, down from 14.2 in the week prior.

It has also been announced that in England, fines for the first offence of failing to self-isolate when required will start at £1,000, before increasing to £2,000, then £4,000 up to a maximum of £10,000.

The upper limit for repeat offences was previously £3,200. The increase in fines will come into force from Friday.


Since the introduction of the travel quarantine regime in the summer, police officers have investigated more than 4,000 alleged breaches of the rules.

More than 200 people were found to be ignoring the quarantine requirement, but escaped a fine because they listened to the officer on their doorstep.

Overall there were just 38 penalties for breaching holiday quarantine.


Analysis By Tom Burridge Transport correspondent


If you look at the official data coming out of Turkey then it sits comfortably below the UK's benchmark for applying the quarantine of 20 cases for every 100,000 people.

But revelations that the number of cases in Turkey has been under-reported has put the country onto the "red" list.

Turkey and Poland are key destinations for airlines and airports so it's another blow for the travel sector.

The Department for Transport is still looking at whether testing can be used at airports to reduce the quarantine period from 14 to seven days.

It is almost impossible for the police to enforce quarantine rules so it is hoped heavier fines for repeat offenders will mean fewer people will break the rules.

Air industry calls for testing


The Manchester Airports Group, which owns and operates Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands airports, said Poland and Turkey's removal from the travel safe list "means that a large proportion of the markets our passengers usually travel to are now effectively closed-off, despite many of them having much lower infection rates than the UK".

The announcement "is a further blow to the already struggling aviation sector", a statement said.

The group said it was "vital" for the government to establish a testing regime "which would allow for a safe reduction in quarantine periods for passengers arriving from abroad".

Tim Alderslade, from Airlines UK, the trade body for UK registered airlines, said a testing regime was "the only way we can reopen international travel".

"Without testing aviation cannot recover and we will miss the opportunity to get the economy moving again," he said.

The Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) also said it was a "massive blow for the travel industry".

"This coupled with popular winter-sun destinations, like the Canary Islands - still on the quarantine list - only piles the pressure on a struggling sector," the travel industry trade body said.

"Many travel businesses are in precarious position and will find it difficult to survive unless the government acts now with tailored support to assist the travel industry."

Tomasz Lis, who lives in London after moving to the UK from Poland 23 years ago, runs a travel company offering tailored trips to his home country. He says the new rule will cost him thousands of pounds.

The 43-year-old said: "It's been an impossible year already and the government would do much better by checking temperatures at the airports, for instance, and test people who may have it rather than introduce those absurd rules."

Mr Lis is also a concert pianist and has cancelled a performance in Poland on Sunday because of the rules - meaning he will lose £3,000 and the cost of his flights.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK Intensifies Arctic Security Engagement as Trump’s Greenland Rhetoric Fuels Allied Concern
Meghan Markle Could Return to the UK for the First Time in Nearly Four Years If Security Is Secured
Meghan Markle Likely to Return to UK Only if Harry Secures Official Security Cover
UAE Restricts Funding for Emiratis to Study in UK Amid Fears Over Muslim Brotherhood Influence
EU Seeks ‘Farage Clause’ in Brexit Reset Talks to Safeguard Long-Term Agreement Stability
Starmer’s Push to Rally Support for Action Against Elon Musk’s X Faces Setback as Canada Shuns Ban
UK Free School Meals Expansion Faces Political and Budgetary Delays
EU Seeks ‘Farage Clause’ in Brexit Reset Talks With Britain
Germany Hit by Major Airport Strikes Disrupting European Travel
Prince Harry Seeks King Charles’ Support to Open Invictus Games on UK Return
Washington Holds Back as Britain and France Signal Willingness to Deploy Troops in Postwar Ukraine
Elon Musk Accuses UK Government of Suppressing Free Speech as X Faces Potential Ban Over AI-Generated Content
Russia Deploys Hypersonic Missile in Strike on Ukraine
OpenAI and SoftBank Commit One Billion Dollars to Energy and Data Centre Supplier
UK Prime Minister Starmer Reaffirms Support for Danish Sovereignty Over Greenland Amid U.S. Pressure
UK Support Bolsters U.S. Seizure of Russian-Flagged Tanker Marinera in Atlantic Strike on Sanctions Evasion
The Claim That Maduro’s Capture and Trial Violate International Law Is Either Legally Illiterate—or Deliberately Deceptive
UK Data Watchdog Probes Elon Musk’s X Over AI-Generated Grok Images Amid Surge in Non-Consensual Outputs
Prince Harry to Return to UK for Court Hearing Without Plans to Meet King Charles III
UK Confirms Support for US Seizure of Russian-Flagged Oil Tanker in North Atlantic
Béla Tarr, Visionary Hungarian Filmmaker, Dies at Seventy After Long Illness
UK and France Pledge Military Hubs Across Ukraine in Post-Ceasefire Security Plan
Prince Harry Poised to Regain UK Security Cover, Clearing Way for Family Visits
UK Junk Food Advertising Ban Faces Major Loophole Allowing Brand-Only Promotions
Maduro’s Arrest Without The Hague Tests International Law—and Trump’s Willingness to Break It
German Intelligence Secretly Intercepted Obama’s Air Force One Communications
The U.S. State Department’s account in Persian: “President Trump is a man of action. If you didn’t know it until now, now you do—do not play games with President Trump.”
Fake Mainstream Media Double Standard: Elon Musk Versus Mamdani
HSBC Leads 2026 Mortgage Rate Cuts as UK Lending Costs Ease
US Joint Chiefs Chairman Outlines How Operation Absolute Resolve Was Carried Out in Venezuela
Starmer Welcomes End of Maduro Era While Stressing International Law and UK Non-Involvement
Korean Beauty Turns Viral Skincare Into a Global Export Engine
UK Confirms Non-Involvement in U.S. Military Action Against Venezuela
UK Terror Watchdog Calls for Australian-Style Social Media Ban to Protect Teenagers
Iranian Protests Intensify as Another Revolutionary Guard Member Is Killed and Khamenei Blames the West
Delta Force Identified as Unit Behind U.S. Operation That Captured Venezuela’s President
Europe’s Luxury Sanctions Punish Russian Consumers While a Sanctions-Circumvention Industry Thrives
Berkshire’s Buffett-to-Abel Transition Tests Whether a One-Man Trust Model Can Survive as a System
Fraud in European Central Bank: Lagarde’s Hidden Pay Premium Exposes a Transparency Crisis at the European Central Bank
Trump Announces U.S. Large-Scale Strike on Venezuela, Declares President Maduro and Wife Captured
Tesla Loses EV Crown to China’s BYD After Annual Deliveries Decline in 2025
UK Manufacturing Growth Reaches 15-Month Peak as Output and Orders Improve in December
Beijing Threatened to Scrap UK–China Trade Talks After British Minister’s Taiwan Visit
Newly Released Files Reveal Tony Blair Pressured Officials Over Iraq Death Case Involving UK Soldiers
Top Stocks and Themes to Watch in 2026 as Markets Enter New Year with Fresh Momentum
No UK Curfew Ordered as Deepfake TikTok Falsely Attributes Decree to Prime Minister Starmer
Europe’s Largest Defence Groups Set to Return Nearly Five Billion Dollars to Shareholders in Twenty Twenty-Five
Abu Dhabi ‘Capital of Capital’: How Abu Dhabi Rose as a Sovereign Wealth Power
Diamonds Are Powering a New Quantum Revolution
Trump Threatens Strikes Against Iran if Nuclear Programme Is Restarted
×