Greece bans Brits when it reopens to tourists in June over poor coronavirus record

The country will begin opening for overseas tourism from June 15, the Greek Tourism Ministry announced on Friday. However, the country’s tourism minister Haris Theoharis told ITV News the UK's record on coronavirus is currently not good enough for Britons to be allowed to visit.

The country has announced a list of 29 countries whose residents are allowed to visit Greece, which is a popular holiday destination from Britons every year. The list will be expanded on July 1 to include other countries – the ministry said – and could include the UK.

The current list of permitted countries includes: Albania, Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Japan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Malta, Montenegro, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, and Switzerland.

The selection was based on “epidemiological criteria” as determined by Greece’s committee of experts dealing with the pandemic.

Mr Theoharis said: “I think that the UK has a big difference in terms of the current medical status of the country with Greece, so I don’t think it’s likely it will be there [on the list].”

Greece has already begun welcoming back domestic tourists as public beaches and major tourist reopened earlier this month.

For overseas tourists, Greece will implement measures to keep people safe, including capacity limits and designated doctors for hotels. Visitors will also be tested for Covid-19 at random, according to Reuters.