Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson has indicated that there will be no early end to the UK’s mandatory quarantine for people entering the country. Johnson insisted this week that the rule that new arrivals should self-isolate for 14 days was necessary to prevent the spread of the disease.

The government is not due to review the mandatory 14-day quarantine, imposed on June 8, until the end of the month.

The travel industry had hoped that putting pressure on the government would result in the quarantine being lifted earlier.

British Airways, easyJet and Ryanair have mounted a legal challenge and industry campaign group Quash Quarantine has pointed out the potentially damaging effect for travel, and called for the resignation of Home Secretary Priti Patel if the airlines’ legal challenge is successful.

Johnson said, “The reason for having the quarantine system is very simple: we don’t want to re-import the disease just at the moment when we’ve really got it under control in this country.”

In response to a question on the possibility of air bridges Johnson said, “We’re certainly looking at air bridges and ways to ensure that people can safely go on holiday eventually.”

That means there is unlikely to be an air bridge between the UK and Spain by the time Spain opens its borders on Sunday, which could mean British holidaymakers continue to be banned until the UK drops its quarantine requirement.