All arrivals from 30 countries into the UK will be required to quarantine in a government-provided hotel for ten days, under new regulations announced by the home secretary Priti Patel (pictured).
The decision, which we predicted on BTN Europe last week, means that all people arriving from countries on the government’s red list of countries with known variants of Covid, including South Africa, Brazil and Portugal, will have enter quarantine in a government-provided facility rather than self-isolating at home.
Speaking in the House of Commons this afternoon, Patel said, “It is clear there are too many people coming in and out of the UK each day”.
She said, “The government’s focus is on protecting the UK’s world-leading vaccination programme, a programme we should be proud of and reducing the risk of the virus of the new strain being transmitted by someone coming into the UK.
“We will introduce a new managed isolation process in hotels for those who cannot be refused entry, including those arriving home from countries where we have already imposed international travel bans. They will be required to isolate for ten days without exception.”
Patel said that further details of the hotel quarantine process would be revealed next week. In a statement earlier today, prime minister Boris Johnson said arrivals from the 22 countries would be met at the airport and transported directly into quarantine.
She added that those travelling out of the UK will also be required to make a declaration to their carrier about their reason for travel.
“Anyone who does not have a valid reason for travel will be directed to return home or face a fine,” she said.
The home secretary added that the government was also urgently reviewing the list of travel exemptions.
Labour's shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds said that the announced quarantine measures do not go far enough and said the government should introduce a comprehensive quarantine for all arrivals into the UK.
Commenting on the news, Clive Wratten, CEO of the Business Travel Association, said: “The introduction of quarantine hotels is another death knell for the travel industry as a whole but especially for business travel.
“Public safety must come first, but we question the timing of this announcement and the lack of investment in a long-term strategy to get the UK travelling again such as pre-departure testing.
“Further, placing the burden of proof for the validity of travel onto international carriers is an untenable situation for companies and staff that are already at breaking point.”
Andrew Crawley, chief commercial officer of American Express Global Business Travel, said, “These new restrictions will be catastrophic for the travel industry. Confining the mandatory hotel quarantine to passengers arriving from high-risk areas appears logical, but the benefit to public health remains unclear.
“This is another knee-jerk reaction. It makes it impossible for businesses to prepare. We urgently need a government plan that provides a path forward for UK PLC as we look to emerge from this situation and stimulate economic growth. The government must also now move to provide financial aid to airlines and travel businesses, many of which will struggle to survive this latest development.”
Abby Penston, CEO of the Focus Travel Partnership, said “Whilst I welcome any and all sensible and reasonable controls to managing the outbreak and containment of the virus, essential workers need to travel. Prioritising the management of the safe travel of these individuals is key, containing them in a hotel at the cost to their employer is just not conducive to ensuring that essential work can be carried out.”