Coronavirus in Portugal: From model country to virus variant area

Portugal is now considered a virus variant area. Returnees have to be in quarantine for 14 days, regardless of whether they have been vaccinated, recovered or tested. What does this mean for Portuguese hoteliers and German vacationers?

For many German vacationers in Portugal, the new restrictions come as a surprise. Sure, the country had a bad corona wave in January and February. But in the past few months, Portugal has been seen as a kind of corona model country: From mid-March to the end of April, it had an incidence of around 30 or less.

Reinhard Spiegelhauer
ARD studio Madrid

Lots of rebooking to avoid quarantine

When André came to Lisbon, the world was still in order. Now everything is different: “I made my return flight on Wednesday, I’ve been here for five weeks, worked and went on vacation, and that means that I’ll have to be quarantined for 14 days,” said André. “The first vacation in almost two years and it ends more or less disastrously.”

He takes it with gallows humor. Many have rebooked in order to fly home before the forced quarantine. Lynn from Cologne is surprised, but finds the regulation understandable: “It’s a bit stupid now, of course, because I flew here knowing that I don’t have to be in quarantine,” she says. “Now I have to, that upsets my plans a bit, but that’s the way it is.”

But she can understand the new rules, she says: “Virus variant area, of course you have to take measures.”

Delta variant on the advance

For the Portuguese hoteliers, this is just bad news. British vacationers have been quarantined when they get home for almost four weeks. The bookings have of course collapsed, says hotelier Serafim. “We absolutely cannot plan for the medium or long term. People book very short-term if they think the situation is good.”

It had been clear since the weekend before last that it could tip over again in Portugal. At that time, the government had largely closed the greater Lisbon area again for the first time. Serafim had still hoped: Better to do something now and fewer bookings than that the problems with Delta spread to the whole country, said the hotelier.

But by then it was already too late, and besides, Delta was already on the advance in the Algarve. Many assume that British holidaymakers also brought the Delta variant with them. Since yesterday, Portugal has been quarantining visitors from Great Britain – obviously too late.