British tourists planning to visit France
are being warned that they may have to
quarantine on their return amid fears of
a second wave of coronavirus there.
Holidaymakers should only book
trips that can be easily rearranged at
24 hours’ notice, a senior aviation
source said last night, adding that
France was “bubbling” with cases.
One leading travel consultant pre-
dicted that France had only five days to
bring its infection numbers down or the
British government would add it to its
quarantine list.
Whitehall officials have placed
France, where hundreds of thousands
of Britons are thought to be holidaying,
in the category of nations that are being
“closely monitored”.
The move came as ministers told
Britons last night not to travel to Belgi-
um and said that those returning would
be forced to quarantine for 14 days. The
government also imposed quarantine
curbs on Andorra and the Bahamas,
which will worry tour operators that
operate in the Caribbean. The coun-
tries will be removed from the list of
“safe” travel corridors and the Foreign
Office will change its advice to warn
against all non-essential travel. Meas-
ures come into effect at 4am tomorrow.
Ministers have not yet discussed the
prospect of warning against travel to
France. A further deterioration, how-
Ben Clatworthy Assistant Travel Editor
Francis Elliott, Tom Whipple
Pablo Sharrock Madrid
Thousands more pupils could get the
right of appeal over their A-level grades
next week after a key concession by the
exam regulator.
Schools will have greater scope to
challenge results on behalf of entire
Watchdog allows thousands more appeals against A-level grades
Nicola Woolcock
Education Correspondent
year groups after the move by Ofqual.
Exams were cancelled this year and
teachers had to provide grades for each
child and put them in ranked order
within the class.
These grades could be changed by
exam boards according to the school’s
previous performance. For example, if a
teacher gave large numbers of pupils anA* in English but no pupil had reached
better than a C grade in previous years
they could be marked down.
Previously, the only way a grade
could be challenged this year was on a
technical ground such as the wrong
personal information being submitted.
Now schools that have made rapid
improvements, or have outstandingyear groups, can appeal. Pupils cannot
challenge grades themselves.
Ofqual faced pressure after a quarter
of Scottish teenagers had their results
downgraded this week from grades
they had been given by teachers.
Pupils who are unhappy with their
grades can retake A levels in October
and GCSEs in November. Cath Jadhav,of Ofqual, said that grades would have
rocketed without the regulator’s
moderation. “Having seen the data, we
know that some schools and colleges
have been more optimistic in generat-
ing assessment grades and the com-
bined effect of that would be unprece-
dented increases in overall results.”
Disadvantaged pupils, page 4Britain is braced for one of its hottest
days on record today with tempera-
tures set to reach 38C in the southeast.
A band of Saharan air prompted a
Met Office alert. People are advised to
drink plenty of water, look out for the
elderly and those with underlying
health conditions and to close curtains
on rooms that face the sun.
Temperatures could climb above theA bather leaping into the water yesterday from the sea wall in Brighton. Today could break the British record of 38.7CSaharan air may make today the hottest ever
Tom Ball record of 38.7C (102F), which was set in
July last year. Parts of the country will
be hotter than the Caribbean, with the
highest temperatures across East Ang-
lia and the south. The Midlands and
parts of Yorkshire will also record
temperatures above 30C.
The hot spell is likely to last across
the weekend, sending day-trippers and
staycationers to beaches and beauty
spots. More than 100,000 people
crammed on to the sands at Bourne-mouth last week when temperatures
reached 37.8C, the third hottest day on
record.
Craig Snell, a Met Office meteorolo-
gist, said it was “touch and go” as to
whether today would be the hottest day
ever. There was, he added, a 10 per cent
chance of the mercury going above
38.7C and a 30 per cent chance of it
rising beyond 38C, which would make it
the hottest day of the year.
Full forecast, page 56STEPHEN LOCK/I-IMAGESBritons on
their way to
France risk
quarantine
ever, could lead to it coming under con-
sideration given the volume of travel
between the two countries. France is
Britain’s second most popular holiday
destination after Spain.
In other developments:
6 The National Audit Office is to
investigate government contracts for
protective equipment awarded at the
height of the pandemic amid an outcry
over the decision to spend more than
£150 million on unusable masks.
6 Preston residents expect to find out
today whether their city is the latest to
be placed under local lockdown.
6 The NHS pulled out of a deal
allowing it to take over private hos-
pitals, raising fears about efforts to clear
a huge backlog of patient care.
6 Anthony Fauci, the United States’
leading virus expert, clashed with
President Trump by declaring that the
country had the world’s worst corona-
virus outbreak.
France’s seven-day rolling average for
cases hit 18.8 per 100,000 yesterday, with
the authorities blaming the rise on
young people failing to social distance
and families holidaying together.
Britain announced quarantine re-
strictions on arrivals from Spain on July
25 when its seven-day rolling average
reached 37.1 cases per 100,000 people.
In Belgium the number is 29, com-
pared with 111.4 in Luxembourg, which
went on the quarantine list last week.
Paul Charles, a travel consultant who
led the campaign to have blanket
Continued on page 2, col 3Warning for tourists over fears of second wave
Friday August 7 2020 | thetimes.co.uk | No 73232 2G £1.10 to subscribersONLY
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