The country had been expected to be removed on Thursday (3 September) with its rate of new coronavirus infections now above the government’s 20 cases per 100,000 people over seven days threshold.

However, transport secretary Grant Shapps tweeted on Thursday afternoon there would be "no English additions or removals [to/from the list] today."

The government has in recent weeks announced changes to the travel corridor list at around 5pm on Thursdays, with the new measures coming into force from 4am on Saturday – giving holidaymakers little more than a day to get home to avoid having to quarantine upon their return.

However, health secretary Matt Hancock told Sky News on Thursday morning a decision on Portugal would be made on Friday (4 September).

Shapps tweeted: "We continue to keep the travel corridor list under constant review and won’t hesitate to remove countries if needed.

"However, there are no English additions or removals today.

"Nonetheless, holidaymakers are reminded – 14-day quarantine countries can and do change at very short notice.

"Travel corridor factors taken into account by JBC [Joint Biosecurity Centre] and ministers include: Covid-19 prevalence; level and rate of change; extent of in-country tests, regime and test positivity; extent of contained outbreak as opposed to general transmission; government actions; and other epidemiological information."