I am just wondering, those people who do manage to get away on a holiday abroad this year and catch this Covid-19 virus, who are they going to blame? I suspect travel insurance will not cover them, maybe they would expect the government to come to their aid. Just a thought!

Covid-19 is not going to be covered by travel insurance.
Another thought. When returning from holiday, will departing passengers be given a temperature check before flying? Imagine the outcome if your holiday is over but you can't fly back. Who pays for the extended stay?

Some interesting work being done by Sunetra Gupta, a Proffessor of Epidemiology at Oxford. Her theory is that exposure to CV19 is much greater in the population than previously thought but antibody tests currently lack the sensitivity to always pick it up. Likewise many have had the symptoms but have never been tested. My wife, myself and several friends are sure we have had CV19 but recovered without medical intervention so were never tested.

This may partly explain why figures in Europe are dropping so quickly if more people have some degree of immunity than previously thought. We can't be complacent but we may now find that the threat in Europe receeds quite quickly such that it can be managed with focussed measures in hot spots like care homes etc. while maintaining enhanced hygience measures and quarantine from high risk areas.

https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/05/the-costs-are-too-high-the-scientist-who-wants-lockdown-lifted-faster-sunetra-gupta

https://travelweekly.co.uk/articles/...gsGIJEPotoFfTU

Whilst this is only one company that have added it to their policy i'm sure others will soon follow. As stated at the very bottom of the article coronavirus is going to be with us for some time so there is a need for it to be added to insurance. But as you've pointed out Gurnard there is a bunch of discussions re: Coronavirus that need to be had to put this cover in place and they probably looking at what other governments are doing for any travellers.

I imagine insurance companies will see £££ signs and add it to policies at an extra cost?

I imagine insurance companies will set very high premiums for Covid coverage... until they have some idea of the level of risk that exists. Things are changing too fast for any but the most courageous underwriter to want to get involved

No cover for travelling against government advice, which is everywhere at the moment and no cover if you get a dose or are told to self isolate before you travel.

But why would any reasonable person knowingly travel with coronavirus or when they should be self isolating? Surely no insurance policy would ever have covered travelling against foreign office or medical advice even before coronavirus. Insurance companies will still want business. Just check the wording of your policy for any exclusions.

The point is if they are indeed being reasonable then they still don’t have any cover so will lose their money. I suspect some of those that are meant to be self isolating will take a chance and still travel.

TORRES SAYS ALL CANARY ISLANDS WILL EXIT STATE OF ALARM ON MONDAY

The Canaries President, Angel Victor Torres, will sign the decree today, making this community the first in Spain to finish de-escalation, lift the state of alarm, and enter the 'new normal'.

The Canary Islands will enter the so-called new normality next Monday, as confirmed by authorized sources last night, who also announced that the President of the Canary Islands Government, will sign the decree today by which he officially notifies the National Administration of the decision.

At a meeting to be held this afternoon by the Governing Council, Torres will give an account of the document, although it doesn't require their approval for its implementation.
Afterwards he will have a meeting with Pedro Sánchez to discuss the possibility that the Archipelago is also the first territory to abandon the state of alarm decreed on March 14th, which officially ends on Sunday 21st June.

The mere fact that the Islands can enter the new normality will imply substantial changes for everyone on a daily basis, especially on the capacity of establishments and public spaces, which can return to their usual amount, although with certain provisions to make it possible to maintain social distancing, which is now set at 1.5 meters by the Ministry of Health.

Confirmation of all 'new normal' provisions are expected to be published in the BOE in the next 48 hours.

https://www.travelweekly.co.uk/artic...ation-guidance

The actual wording on the Gov.uk website is as follows: "You are strongly encouraged to check in baggage to the aircraft hold and minimise any hand baggage. This will speed up boarding and disembarking and minimise the risk of transmission." So not a total hand baggage ban as the article suggests. Link below for anyone interested in reading it all.

There is a also a separate page for operators where the advice on baggage is "To make social distancing easier during boarding and disembarkation, airlines should strongly promote the carriage of baggage in the aircraft hold and minimise any hand/ cabin baggage through communication and incentive policies."
Will be interesting to see how airlines feel about that now that so many charge for checked bags.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavi...for-passengers

Are airports able to be reconfigured within weeks/months to have lots more self-check baggage machines ? Can baggage belts handle a significantly increased load ?

Social distancing at a baggage belt will be interesting. The ones at Luton are normally 4 deep with passengers with multiple flights using each belt.

Even if the FCO essential travel advice changes, overseas countries flung open their doors and quarantine was dropped tomorrow sadly I don't imagine this summers passenger numbers will trouble the existing airport facilities too much.

Be interesting to see how airlines cope with the reduction in on board sales - for some cabin crew, makes up a fair bit of their income.

https://travelweekly.co.uk/articles/...reopen-borders
Not really what the travel industry needs when it is trying to build momentum towards a restart

Meanwhile
https://travelweekly.co.uk/articles/...-non-eu-travel
The EU wants to start moves towards reopening borders whilst "German government advice against travel to 160 countries was extended to August 31 and includes travel to Turkey."

What a complete mess

Is the UK still considered EU until the end of this year for this? I.e. Poland and Germany for example would allow UK citizens unrestricted?

It would make an interesting read if BA, Easyjet and Ryanair had to respond to the above article. Their position would appear to be untenable which is an awful position to be in.

Really LTNMan you need to keep up to date with world affairs. The 3 countries you listed are light years ahead of the UK with very few cases, so hardly a good comparison. They also imposed quarantine 2 months or more before the UK. Those countries were more concerned with imported cases, and like I said before quarantine works best when a country has a low rate of infection compared to others. The UK would be best quarantining visitors from hotspots such as all the Americas, Russia, India and if that was the case the airlines could hardly complain.

I think you need to read the full article before you dismiss it