Holidaymakers were warned yesterday
that “no travel is risk-free” as concern
grew that the quarantining of arrivals
from Spain will be extended to other
countries.
Downing Street insisted that rules on
overseas travel were under “constant
review”, raising fears that the holiday
plans of millions will be threatened.
At least 11 European countries where
quarantine-free travel is possible have
suffered Covid-19 increases in recent
days, with some reaching higher infec-
tion rates than the UK. In the past fort-
night Croatia and Belgium have regis-
tered twice as many cases per head as
Britain. Infections have climbed in
France, Germany and Austria too.
Tour operators warned of a sharp
drop in bookings to short-haul destina-
tions for the rest of the summer as
confidence in overseas travel collapses
after the decision on Spain.
Pedro Sánchez, the Spanish prime
minister, said last night that Britain had
made an “error” as infections in most
regions were lower than in the UK. He
said talks continued to try to make the
British government change its mind.
Last night, it emerged that the gov-
ernment was considering cutting the
quarantine period from 14 to 10 days.
Matt Hancock, the health secretary,
has drawn up a plan to introduce mass
testing for arrivals in the UK, according
to The Daily Telegraph. People could be
tested after eight days, just beyond
the maximum seven-day incubation
period for the virus, and would be freed
from quarantine if the result was nega-
tive. The move would potentially allow
many quarantined Britons to return to
work more quickly. Up to 1.8 million
people from the UK have Spanish holi-
days booked up until the end of August.
However, ministers dashed hopes
that holidays to the Balearics and Can-
Graeme Paton Transport Correspondent
Steven Swinford Deputy Political Editor
Ben Clatworthy Assistant Travel Editor
Electric bikes will be cheaper under a
new subsidy to encourage older people
and commuters to get out on the road.
Boris Johnson will announce today a
£2 billion strategy to spread “the trans-
formative benefits of cycling” following
concerns that people shun two wheels
because of worries over road safety or
ONLY
Tuesday July 28 2020 | thetimes.co.uk | No 73223 2G £1.10 to subscribers £Townies in
the country
What not
to wear, what
not to do
10 things to do to
prevent Alzheimer’s
t
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n
INSIDE
TIMES
Taxpayer-funded electric bikes to get more cyclists on the roads
Graeme Paton, Chris Smyth cost. In England grants will help cyclists
to buy ebikes, which typically cost
£1,000 to £3,000. The subsidy level is
yet to be fixed but if it mirrors the
electric car scheme, it would mean a
third off the price.
The grants will be on top of the gov-
ernment’s cycle to work scheme, which
gives higher-rate taxpayers up to 42 per
cent off the cost of a bike, potentially
providing more than two thirds off for
some employees. The move is designed
to appeal to commuters as well as to
older people who may be put off cycling
because of the physical demands.
Mr Johnson will promise to “build a
healthier, more active nation” in the
new cycling and walking strategy.
Councils outside London will be given
powers to issue £60 fines for drivingoffences such as stopping in yellow box
junctions, taking banned turns and
going the wrong way in one-way streets.
Motorists have criticised the move,
claiming that drivers could be treated as
cash cows by local authorities. Other
measures include increasing the num-
ber of “school streets” around primaries
where cars are banned and giving local
communities the right to request theclosure of streets to prevent rat runs. An
Ofsted-style body will oversee the
building of thousands of miles of cycle
lanes. GPs will be encouraged to
prescribe cycling and patients will be
able to hire bikes through surgeries.
Junk food clampdown, page 11
Melanie Phillips, page 24
Letters, page 26
Leading article, page 27All travel is now a risk,
holidaymakers are told
aries could go ahead without quaran-
tine on return by changing travel policy
on the islands to bring it into line with
that for the mainland. The change
leaves the plans of 830,000 Britons
intending to visit the islands in tatters.
Many tour operators are now expect-
ed to cancel holidays on the islands. Tui
and Jet2, the biggest companies, have
already cancelled trips to the mainland
for the next few weeks and Tui said that
it was cancelling all those to the Balear-
ics and Canaries from today up to Fri-
day. Customers with holidays booked
on either island group from Saturday
and in mainland Spain from August 10
will be updated on Friday.
Jet2 said that it was advising custom-
ers who were due to travel to Tenerife,
Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzar-
ote, Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza not to
go to the airport today as it was not
operating flights to those destinations.
In other developments:
6 Grant Shapps, the transport secre-
tary, is to return from his holiday in
Spain and self-isolate for two weeks.
6 Millions of Britons risk losing the
cost of their holidays because of lock-
downs and quarantine, experts warn.
6 The UK recorded seven coronavirus-
related deaths, the first time the daily
toll has been in single figures since mid-
March. The tally stands at 45,759.
The decision to extend the restric-
tions to cover the Spanish islands was
branded an “absolute shambles” by
travel agents. A number said that they
had expected the government to allow
arrivals from there quarantine-free.
Chris Rowles, chairman of the Asso-
ciation of Independent Tour Opera-
tors, said: “We in travel very much don’t
wish to put our customers, or anyone
else, including host destinations, at risk,
quite the contrary. But looking at the
figures, it could certainly be more dan-
gerous to stay in the UK than to travel.”
The government’s policy on Spain
Continued on page 2, col 3
Giles Coren, page 246 Spanish islands placed on travel blacklist 6 Fears that quarantine could hit other countries
Why men
are working
harder than
ever at home
Gurpreet Narwan
Economics CorrespondentMen are taking to the kitchen and
changing nappies as never before,
according to a study.
They are spending an extra five and a
half hours a week on childcare and
housework compared to 40 years ago.
Women do nearly three hours less of
domestic work.
However, equality is a long way off,
with women doing 80 per cent more
cooking, cleaning and caring than men,
at 29 hours. Women are also working
harder than in the 1970s because they
have increased the time spent in paid
employment by more than five hours.
Men, by contrast, spend eight hours
less at work on average, giving them
three more hours of free time, which
they use to catch up on sleep and to
volunteer. Women, with less time to
themselves, see less of their friends,
watch less TV, play less sport and take
shorter lunch breaks.
The Resolution Foundation think
tank found that the fall in paid work
among men was driven by low-income
households. Men in such households
work three hours less per day than in
the mid-1970s, when there was a higher
proportion of industrial jobs.
This extra leisure time may not be
entirely welcome. “This fall in paid
work for lower-income households is a
cause of concern and should not be
written off as a lifestyle choice,” the
report said. It found that a seventh of
workers in such households wanted
more hours of work, compared to only
a thirtieth of better-off workers.
The research suggests that women
spend 51 hours a week at work or on
household chores and childcare while
men spend 50 hours a week.
George Bangham, an economist at
the Resolution Foundation, said: “As
many households rethink their time
use in light of the lockdown, it’s impor-
tant to remember that while some
people want to work fewer hours others
want or need to work more. And for
many, control of working hours can be
as important as the amount they do.”Britons arriving at Malaga–Costa del Sol Airport yesterday for their holidays faced
frustration over the quarantine and uncertainty as to how soon it would be liftedALEX ZEA/EUROPA PRESS VIA GETTY IMAGES