THIS WILL COSTA US

Spain amber-plus fear as cases rise. Thousands of Brits facing isolation

- BEN GLAZE and NIGEL THOMPSON

TENS of thousands of holidays were under threat last night amid fears Spain could be added to the amber-plus list.

Tourists returning from the Costas would still have to self-isolate even when the EU quarantine rule is axed.

Data expert Tim White warned of the move after NHS Test and Trace figures showed 2.9% of people arriving in England from Spain between July 1 and 21 tested positive for Covid.

The country – the UK’s most popular holiday destination – is currently on the amber list, which means fully vaccinated travellers do not have to self-isolate for 10 days when they return.

Mr White said: “ Worryingly for Spain is that 3% of the samples had a variant not wide-spread in the UK. I cannot see Spain being put on red but amber-plus is likely – and likely for the islands of Spain, too, because of the very high infection rates.”

However, Paul Charles, head of travel consultancy The PC Agency, claimed infections in Spain were “flatlining at the moment and starting to reduce a little bit”.

He said: “I think it would be a very brazen Government that would tell a million British tourists in Spain at the moment, and Balearics, they would have to quarantine on their way back.