Covid positivity rates among travellers returning from Spain have almost tripled since the end of June, according to official data that ministers could use to slap the holiday hotspot with tougher quarantine rules. More than 70,000 people flew into England from Spain over the first three weeks of July and 2,065 of them tested positive — a rate of 2.9 per cent. For comparison, the figure stood at just 0.9 per cent throughout June. The latest NHS Test and Trace statistics will be fed into No10, which Whitehall insiders say is already considering imposing stricter rules on Spain. The Government is set to update its travel quarantine list next week and there are hopes dozens more destinations will be placed on the green and amber lists. But if the Government decides to push the panic button in the face of soaring rates among Spanish travellers, it could see the nation placed in the amber-plus bracket, meaning all arrivals would have to isolate for 10 days upon return — even if they've been fully vaccinated. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab today warned there are no 'cast-iron guarantees' that Spain will stay quarantine-free for vaccinated Brits. As it stands, France is the only country on the amber-plus list but questions have been asked about what ministers used to reach that 'incomprehensible' decision. The Government warned of the persistent presence of the 'Beta' variant to justify the move. And Mr Raab today admitted France was put in the tougher category because of high rates on Reunion island, situated in the Indian Ocean — 6,000 miles (9,600km) from Paris. The mutant strain is even more dominant in Spain, where infections are also higher. Health officials are said to be 'getting very jumpy' about Spain's situation with the strain, which emerged in South Africa and is thought to be more resistant to the AstraZeneca vaccine given to millions in the UK. The proportion of infected travellers flying back from Spain stands at 2.9 per cent, up from 0.6 per cent three weeks earlier. But positivity rates among travellers are higher from 11 other countries, with 11.1 per cent of those coming to England from Jersey having the virus. But the highest number of infected people came from Spain (2,065) - four times higher than the second-highest country Greece The positivity rate among people coming to England from Spain has skyrocketed in the last three weeks to 2.9 per cent. Infection rates among the group had been between 0.6 and 1 per cent since February What are the rules for people returning to England from abroad? AMBER LIST Take a Covid-19 test in the three days before you arrive in Britain Book and pay for day two Covid-19 tests – to be taken after arrival in England Quarantine at home or in the place you are staying for 10 days, and complete a passenger locator form if you are not fully vaccinated or have been to France If you are vaccinated, you do not need to quarantine in England - but you will need to take a test before arriving back in the country, and then another on day two after your return For all arrivals returning from an amber list country, before arriving in England, you must take a private PCR or lateral flow test in the three days before the service on which you will arrive in England departs. For example, if you travel to England on Friday, you can take the test on or after Tuesday and will need to have the negative result available before boarding on Friday. Before you arrive in England, everyone must also book and pay for a day two Covid-19 test, to be taken after your arrival in England. People who are not vaccinated and anyone who has been in France in the last 10 days must also book and pay for a test on or after day eight. You do not need to quarantine on arrival in England or take a day eight Covid-19 test, as long as you are fully vaccinated. This means that you have had your final dose of an approved vaccine at least 14 days before the date you arrive in England. But under the Test to Release scheme you can choose to pay for a private Covid-19 test on day five. If the result is negative (and the result of your day two test result was negative or inconclusive), you can end your quarantine. RED LIST You can only enter England if you are a British or Irish National, or you have residence rights in the UK Take a Covid-19 test in the three days before you arrive in Britain Book a quarantine hotel package, including two Covid-19 tests, and fill out a passenger locator form If you have been in a country or territory on the red list in the last ten days you will only be allowed to enter the UK if you are a British or Irish National, or you have residence rights in the UK. You must also take a Covid-19 test in the three days before you arrive and book into a quarantine hotel. The rate for one adult in one room for ten days (11 nights) is £1,750, while the additional rate for one adult (or child over 11) is £650, and for a child aged 5 to 11 it is £325. While in the quarantine hotel you must also take two Covid-19 tests. GREEN LIST Take a Covid-19 test in the three days before you arrive in Britain Book and pay for a day two Covid-19 test, which will be taken after your arrival in England Complete a passenger locator form Before arriving in England, you must take a private PCR or lateral flow test in the three days before the service on which you will arrive in England departs. You cannot take an NHS test abroad with you to use on yourself before you return. If you are returning to the UK within three days, you can use the result of a Covid-19 test that you take in the UK before you travel - but this must be from a private test provider and not the NHS. Advertisement With the aim of getting holidays going again this summer with the pandemic still raging on, ministers adopted a traffic light travel policy saying the time had come to take advantage of being one of the world's most vaccinated countries. Decisions on which countries appear on which list are made by ministers, based on advice provided by the Joint Biosecurity Centre — part of the UK's Health Security Agency. The lists are reviewed every three weeks but all countries are assumed to be amber. Brits are warned against travelling to countries on the red list, which have rapidly-growing outbreaks or are being hit hard by troublesome variants. There are currently 147 countries on the amber list and just a just 28 far-flung destinations on the green list, including Iceland and Barbados. Spain has been on the amber list ever since foreign holidays were given the green light again when the Government eased restrictions in May. As a result, the number of people flying into England from Spain has been nearly doubling every few weeks. But the rate of travellers infected with the virus has also increased nearly five-fold in recent weeks, from 0.6 per cent between the end of April and mid-May to 2.9 per cent during the first three weeks of July. Following Spain, the most Covid cases were imported from Greece (344), followed by Portugal (217), France (205), the US (164) and Italy (147). But travellers from Spain still do not have the highest infection rate on nations on the amber list, with 11.1 per cent of those flying in from Jersey testing positive. Rates were similarly high for travellers coming in from Yemen (8.3 per cent), Uzbekistan (7.9 per cent) and Kyrgyzstan (7.7 per cent) — but barely anyone is flying in from those countries. Meanwhile, France has a positivity rate of just 0.8 per cent among arrivals. Its rate has also doubled since the end of June — but is still only a fraction of the figure in Spain. Separate data that adds to the confusion over the move shows France is currently recording 270 cases per million people every day, which is half of the rate seen in Spain (551). But despite figures suggesting Spain's Covid situation is currently worse than France's, any move to add the country to the amber-plus list will provoke a row within Government. Although there is concern about the Beta variant, many experts believe it is being 'crowded out' by the more virulent Delta variant now spreading rapidly across Spain. The shock move to place France in its own category earlier this month wrecked thousands of families' holidays as well as the plans of many expats hoping to see loved ones for the first time since the start of the pandemic. Cases of the Delta variant have fallen sharply in France in recent weeks and ministers are confident it will be restored to the same status as other amber list countries, meaning fully vaccinated travellers will no longer have to quarantine when they return. Asked about the possibility of Spain going on an 'amber watchlist' — with the possibility of it moving straight to the red category — Mr Raab said: 'I can't rule things that the JBC and the government will decide, but they'll make that decision next week in terms of the traffic light system for all the relevant countries.' Mr Raab said the 'momentum forward is positive' with the high proportion of Britons who are double-jabbed. 'We've done the job we had to do domestically, and as we see other countries catch up if you like, I think we're increasingly confident that more countries will go on either on amber or onto green,' he said. Pushed for advice to would-be holidaymakers, Mr Raab said 'you'll know next week'. He suggested if the need to book immediately they will 'have to base it on the traffic light system we've got in place right now'. 'We can't give cast iron guarantees about what the next review system will decide. If we did it wouldn't be a very meaningful review system,' he added. Meanwhile, French minister Clement Beaune has slammed the decision to keep quarantine measures for vaccinated travellers coming from France to the UK, while other EU countries and the US are exempted. 'It's excessive, and it's frankly incomprehensible on health grounds ... It's not based on science and discriminatory towards the French,' Mr Beaune told LCI TV. 'I hope it will be reviewed as soon as possible, it's just common sense.' Mr Beaune said France was not planning tit-for-tat measures 'for now'. The Government announced yesterday that people in the EU and US who are double jabbed will not need to isolate on arrival to the UK from Monday morning. Until then, only people who were fully immunised in the UK can avoid quarantine. Professor Lawrence Young, a virologist at the University of Warwick, told MailOnline: 'The original rationale for placing France on the amber-plus list was based on concerns about levels of beta virus infection - odd because Spain has had higher levels! 'I think we should be taking a more cautious approach and not completely drop the need for travellers to quarantine. 'Important to recognise that previous waves of infection in the UK have been fuelled by travellers bringing virus variants infection back with them. 'There is now more evidence that fully vaccinated individuals can get reinfected and spread the virus. 'So monitoring levels of infection with different virus variants in different countries and using this information to make decisions about testing and isolating arrivals into the UK needs to be carefully considered.' All rights reserved for this news site (dailymail) and under his responsibility