The country’s Foreign Minister, Augusto Santos Silva, said it was “very disappointed” that Portugal was removed from the list of countries where travelers would be exempted from spending two weeks alone after arriving in England.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4 on Friday, Santos Silva said, “We were very disappointed with the British authorities’ decision. We think it is pointless and unfair. This is ridiculous.
“The UK has seven times more cases of Covid-19 than Portugal, so we think allies and friends are not treated like that.”
Although Portugal admitted that Covid-19 had some “specific outbreaks” in Lisbon, the minister stressed that the popular places of British tourists like Algarve are not coronavirus hotspots.
Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa said Algarve is a safe place to spend this summer.
According to British government data, about 2.5 million British traveled to Portugal last year.
CNN’s Isabela Tejera and Milena Veselinovic contributed to reporting.
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