Belgium, Andorra and the Bahamas added to the UK's quarantine list

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Belgium has been trying to ensure social distancing is maintained on its beaches. Credit: AP

Belgium, Andorra and the Bahamas has been added to the UK's quarantine list, meaning anyone returning from 4am on Saturday must quarantine for 14 days.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced the removal of the countries from the UK's travel corridor list.

In a tweet he said: “Data shows we need to remove Andorra, Belgium and The Bahamas from our list of #coronavirus Travel Corridors in order to keep infection rates DOWN.

“If you arrive in the UK after 0400 Saturday from these destinations, you will need to self-isolate for 14 days.”

Travellers arriving from Brunei and Malaysia will no longer have to quarantine.

  • ITV News Political Correspondent Carl Dinnen explains the changes to the UK's quarantine list:

At the start of July the UK announced a list of dozens of countries it considered safe for British holidaymakers to travel to, which included Spain, France, Malta and many more.

Since then, with coronavirus cases rising across Europe, ministers have been warning that countries could be "rapidly" removed from that list if there are concerns about spikes of Covid-19.

Spain, Luxembourg and now Belgium have all been removed from that list, throwing holiday plans intro disarray for thousands of Brits.

Even though coronavirus cases are rising in France and Malta, travellers arriving from those countries do not need to quarantine when they return to the UK.

While some countries are being removed from the list, a government source has told ITV News that Portugal - an extremely popular holiday destination - is making progress and could soon be added to the safe list.

The 14-day cumulative number of Covid-19 cases per 100,000 in Belgium is 49.2, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDPC).

In France, the rate has risen from 21.7 on August 4, to 23.4 as of August 6 and in Malta the rate is 33.0, up from 26.7.

In Portugal, however, the rate has fallen from 27.2 on August 4, to 26.3 as of August 6.

Since the list of safe travel destinations was announced several countries have been added to the list.

Those countries include Estonia, Latvia, Slovakia, Slovenia, St Vincent and the Grenadines.