BRITONS SCRAMBLE TO LEAVE PORTUGAL

Thousands in desperate rush for Covid tests to avoid 10 days of quarantine

THOUSANDS of panicked UK holidaymakers are scrambling to get Covid tests so they can fly back from Portugal ahead of Tuesday’s 4am quarantine deadline.

Britons rushing to organise pre-departure swabs have been queuing around the block at testing sites, with some centres warning of a two-week backlog.

Those without a compulsory negative result risk being barred from flights. And anyone who doesn’t make it back before Portugal loses ‘green list’ status must spend ten days isolating at home once they do get back.

Some 20,000 passengers were expected to depart from Faro Airport this weekend – many of whom changed their plans following the Government’s sudden decision to impose extra rules last week, and are paying exorbitant prices to beat the cut-off point.

Adrian Wright, 65, is trying to head back to the UK for cancer surgery, which he will miss unless he can fly out within the next two days.

‘It’s caused me severe stress and worry about missing my hospital appointment next week because if I need to self-isolate for ten days I can’t have my cancer operation.

‘Wizz Air suddenly cancelled my flight without any explanation and no help or alternative fl i ghts offered. The airlines are now charging ridiculous amounts for flights ahead of the deadline.

‘If I do manage to get replacement flights, new Covid tests, and accommodation booked in the next day, then it’s all likely to cost me an extra £800.

‘The test centre I went to yesterday had long queues outside and in. Although they were doing their best only one clinician was doing both the tests and handing out results to people, so I was there for almost two hours.’

Mr Wright has at least secured a test but some testing centres in the Algarve tourist hotspot are fully booked. Sarah Young, a resident of Carvoeiro, told The Mail on Sunday: ‘The nearest test centre had a waiting list of two weeks.’

Yesterday, officials warned travellers that only those who have already made appointments can get tested at Faro Airport because of ‘insufficient capacity’ to deal with walk-ins.

Robin Watkins, 35, from Sonning in Berkshire, said he found the experience stressful on Friday night, ahead of his flight home after a five-day golfing holiday.

‘When we got to the front for our tests at the airport, the systems crashed from what I believe was the vast amount of people wanting a test. People were waiting with less than an hour until departure and as you can imagine a lot of upset passengers were frightened they were going to miss their flight.’

There are an estimated 112,000 Britons currently in Portugal and airlines have been laying on extra flights or larger aircraft to get people home. Some 100 flights were expected to depart Faro yesterday alone and there were l engthy queues snaking around the building of passengers trying to leave.

British Airways are allowing customers who wish to return before Tuesday to change their flights free of charge. But for those who do not have a flight booked, BA is charging £557 for flights from Faro to Heathrow on Sunday and Monday, but the price drops to £40 on Wednesday.

A seat on an easyJet flight from Lisbon to Manchester on Sunday is £120 but the same flight the following Friday costs £48.

Rohan Jayawardene, the chief executive of private j et fi rm Diamonté Jets, said they had seen a 300 per cent increase in bookings from people trying to leave. They have a flight due to touch down at Luton airport at 3am on Tuesday – just 60 minutes ahead of the deadline. He said: ‘The average cost for a one-way flight on an eight-seater Gulf Stream G200 from Faro to Luton is £18,500. We have seen families and couples getting together and sharing the price. Faro airport is so busy we’re struggling for parking. It’s touch and go: come in, pick up passengers and fly off again.’

As well as ten days’ isolation at home, people returning from amber list countries also need to take two post-arrival tests. The average cost of a Government-approved private test is around £110.

The UK has a seven-day average rate of infection of 35.9 per 100,000, slightly lower than Portugal’s. Travel industry leaders have called on the Government to produce the data on which they based the decision to tighten the rules. Tim Alderslade, chief executive of the British Air Transport Association, said Ministers had not kept to promises to give travellers warning about a country potentially coming off the safe list.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘It has caused complete pandemonium... the transparency is not there, we don’t know what has to happen for countries to move from green to amber, or amber to green for that matter.’

Professor Henrique Barros, president of Portugal’s National Health Council, branded the UK decision to downgrade the country as ‘an overreaction.’

And Cristovao Norte, Portuguese MP for the Algarve, told The Mail on Sunday: ‘I respect the decision, but I don’t think it’s fair for Portugal or the Algarve. We have very low numbers, nobody has died for weeks, and we don’t have any problems with intensive care .

‘It’s £557 to fly before the deadline, £40 after ’