They have already announced that they will be flying passengers back home as planned. It's just the outbound flights that will be empty.

Thats great for the people already out there, and fantastic that TUI are doing it !

Why is is particularly worth reading?

He was obviously unfortunate to get so ill. The overwhelming majority of healthy people under the age of 75 will suffer mild illness at worst. The fact that his story was covered at all is evidence of how unusual it is.

His experience illustrates how unpredictable the virus is. It ought to serve as a warning to those who are dismissive of such things happening to younger folk.

The poor chap in question was unfortunate enough to suffer severe complications as a result of Covid-19 and required support in the ITU and needed ECMO.

The point that Gurnard made, and that you are so dismissive of guy_incognito is that this can happen to anyone and if the virus spreads out of control it will overload our already stretched NHS in the UK. Do you know how many ECMO beds there are in the UK? I suggest you research it, it might change your blasé opinion of what is a major health emergency.

Thanks Fostex. Covid-19 can attack perfectly healthy people and leave them with unexpected after-effects which remain. Can't we have just a bit of sympathy for those affected in such unpleasant ways? It could be any of us or any close family member. Without becoming paranoid about the virus, that's what we need to weigh up.

A long term problem for those who experience the virus very strongly is that - thereafter - they have 'underlying conditions'. Which means that the next regular flu or any 'normal' illness that they contract, could be very much more serious than it would otherwise have been.

This long term burden on the populace and the health service and the country is unknown - but will be counted over the next years. Yes, most who get it make a full recovery but others do not and may find themselves unable to work due to their new health condition.

According to 'Our World in Data', the UK 7 day rolling average of confirmed cases is down to 9.74 cases per 100k, meaning that in the world ranking the UK has fallen to 94th of all countries impacted.

It's no more than the airline is contractually bound to do. Most, if not all, of their passengers will be on package holidays - the carrier can't just abandon them there.

Ryanair are taking the Irish government to court over their safe country list. The list, announced on July 22, contains just 15 countries and does not include the UK, Germany, France or Spain, all of which are major destinations on Ryanair’s network.

https://www.dfa.ie/travel/travel-advice/coronavirus/

That compulsory 14-day self-isolation for all visitors arriving in Eire is presenting a major issue for me. I'm due to travel to Kerry with RYR, but obviously cannot proceed with this on the basis of compulsory quarantine imposed upon arrival. A banner on Ryanair's website indicates that they will allow alteration of travel dates free of charge ("no flight change fee") if a customer is unable to travel on the original booked dates. But this offer seems to exclude those who booked early, as I did. When I attempt to alter my travel dates, a change fee of £60 appears (£30 each way). It makes no sense to pay this - a sum not dissimilar to the original fare - to transfer my booking to new dates which could conceivably fall foul of the same quarantine edict in turn.

I hope that Ryanair will see fit to allow ALL booked passengers to alter their travel dates without an admin fee on routes affected by a draconian restriction of this sort. It is quite impossible for most of us to travel on these terms.

As a frequent RYR customer - typically 30 to 40 sectors per year - I acknowledge that Ryanair are within their legal rights to impose a change fee. But if they do so under these circumstances, they lose the trust of customers affected. I'm not daft enough to stamp my feet and exclaim that I would never fly with Ryanair again ... of course I will. But a whiff of injustice stings, and on routes where alternatives exist, trust can swing a future booking decision. I've got the same quarantine issue with a booked EasyJet trip ... but they allow me to change the travel dates without a fee. I'll remember that. If one company helps you out of a hole and the other turns its back, who are you going to trust next time around?

No early advance booking customer could be expected to plan for a government ruling of this sort. Penalising them for it is unreasonable.

I would think most people in GB would not know of quarantine requirements from the U.K. and would not even check seeing that Ireland was the only country to be excluded when the U.K. had a blanket quarantine requirement.

I do find this a bit of a joke and certainly underreported considering the relationship the two countries have. GFA?

No. Common travel area that predates EU.

The quarantine requirements set to try and prevent going over without a valid reason i.e for a pub visit etc.

Colleague who went over for work via ferry, checked by drug squad who sent a dog into car, no alcohol or drugs issues. He asked about quarantine, this in May but they indicated, "we not policing that we drugs squad but you here for work so assumme you know WTF you doing" and let him leave.

Many friends with family there and they pretty much state that family ask not to visit until safe, which they doing.

Aside from last couple of days where a localised test brought 80 cases the cases and more importantly deaths have been small for a month or so.

Difficult to stop people coming in and not self quarantining, seems in some popular tourist spots beloved by US visitors, they found themselves unwelcome unless they could prove in Ireland for 2+ weeks. May not do the Trip advisor ratings any good but seems owners figured least of their worries.

Beginning to think that the UK Govts might decide to put Belgium on the naughty step soon... and require anyone travelling from Belgium to the UK to go into 14 days of home quarantine

14 days or 10 days or starting it from midnight on the 25th or 26 th will make zero difference ..most people,will not bother with it..
they may do a day or two then think sod this I’m going to the pub, or that party. It’s unenforceable ..
you can be ambivalent about It like me any many others. Or you can be cross. But either way that’s what is happening

Unfortunately you are correct.

BJ's Govt have ignored the rules and nobody did anything, contrast it with other countrys where people have resigned. Cummings did what he wanted and as nothing happened to him then many people said well sod that for a game of soldiers.

Looking at recent figures for Portugal, bucking the trend across most of Europe, their figures are trending downwards, begging the question why HMG isn't allowing quarantine free travel from Portugal. If they are looking for targets to reimpose quarantine the government need look for further than Belgium and The Netherlands, but both appear to be off the media radar, they'd rather focus on a (non existent) spike in cases in Germany, whereas in reality, though their figures are increasing, the rate of daily tick up isn't that much greater than the UK, and per capita still very much below that of the UK.lower.

Like a number of things related to UK Covid-19 policy, there appears to be very little logic in decision making.

The Govt needs to be very careful to avoid rapid U turns... if a country goes from the naughty list to the OK-to-visit list, it has to remain as such for a prolonged period of time.... or the press and opposition will roast Boris alive. Oh and people who've booked holidays which are then cancelled won't be happy - forgiveable once for Spain but should not be repeated. Equally a country that is currently permitted will have to let its Covid case frequency get quite bad before travel authority is revoked for Brits. Effectively, politics means we have a system that is generally slow to respond, but at least allows people to plan ahead to some degree

If the lead time between booking a holiday and getting on a plane was typically just a day or two, Govt could afford to change its mind quickly... but lead times are longer

I suspect Portugal or any country on the forbidden category will have to get its case frequency really much lower than the UK before the FCO gives approval

At Notts, the Portuguese new case rate is falling, but is still more per head than the UK, but I expect in a week or so there will be a review of the corridor. You then seem to conflate media reporting with Government decision making, the 2 are separate.
Since the corridor to Spain was shut, the Government has also has imposed quarantine on those returning from Luxembourg. So it appears that the decision makers are monitoring the small countries as well. I expect Belgium to be soon, maybe the Netherlands as well.