Exclusive: Portuguese foreign minister says UK’s quarantine hotel policy is ‘useless’

Augusti Santos Silva said the only Covid variants 'that are present in Portugal are British'

Credit: Olivier Hoslet/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

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Portugal’s foreign minister has attacked the UK’s quarantine hotel policy as "useless" because of restrictions his country has already put in place.

In an exclusive interview with The Telegraph, Augusto Santos Silva said the UK’s "red list" ban on foreign travel from Portugal was unnecessary because his Government had already suspended all flights to and from the country and introduced a tough lockdown throughout February.

Mr Santos Silva said it was "untrue" for the UK to claim that Portugal was a greater risk for new variants because of its links to Brazil. He said the UK’s Kent Covid variant was the biggest threat to Portugal.

"The only variants that are present in Portugal are British," he said. "Almost half of new infections in Portugal belong to this British variant. That’s why we suspended the flights between Britain and Portugal.

"But we don’t have any evidence of prevalence of the Brazilian or South African variants in Portugal. I would say it is somehow useless, the decision taken by the British authorities concerning quarantine, since we decided to suspend the connections between Portugal and the UK.

"People coming from Portugal have to be in quarantine in the UK and have to be quarantined in hotels for at least two weeks. But what we are saying is that the Portuguese people cannot leave Portugal. So if the Portuguese people cannot leave Portugal it is not necessary to decide any kind of quarantine that is specifically geared to the Portuguese. 

"It is unnecessary to put Portugal on the red list for this month as the [Portuguese] government has extended this interdiction to go abroad."

Mr Santos Silva declined to say whether the UK decision had damaged relations but said the Portuguese government had been "surprised" that the country was put on the list, adding: "We were surprised because of the argument saying the UK had to suspend the connection with Portugal because of our connection with Brazil. This is not true. That is really the point for us."

The minister said Portugal’s lockdown – including the closure of schools, shops, restaurants and bars – was starting to bring down infection rates.

"We hope that in weeks we can overcome this situation and we can return to the normal connection between the UK and Portugal," he added. "We hope that we can re-establish the connection before summer."