Travellers returning to Britain from countries where coronavirus mutations are present will face a 10 days quarantine in hotels, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has confirmed.
Air passengers to face quarantine in hotels
As UK continue its efforts to reach the target of 12 million people vaccinated before mid-February, toughest measures were taken in order to avoid further infections from travellers. Ministers have been working on stricter restrictions for people travelling to Britain and new measures are in plan.
Some travellers will have to be driven directly to isolation centres, such as Britons coming back to UK from high risk countries as Brazil and South Africa, known for the dangerous variant of coronavirus. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has confirmed UK Government will do everything it can to protect the “immense work of the NHS” and the dangerous mutations of the virus have to be kept outside of the country if the UK wants to see the Covid situation under control.
This new restriction taken by ministers was the toughest border measure so far. Passengers have to quarantine for 10 days once arrived in the UK and the new measures would require thousands of hotel rooms. Travellers would need to pay their hotel bill and would need to also take a negative test before being released. “If we’re going to make that effort [of mass vaccinations]” – said the Prime Minister –“which we are, we want to make sure we protect this country against reinfection from abroad. So that idea of looking at hotels is certainly one thing we’re actively now working on.”
The current border measures
According to Johnson the UK already has one of the tightest regimes in the world. People coming to the UK will have to take a test 72 hours before flying, then would need to produce a passenger locater form to get on board. Once arrived everybody needs to have a 10 days quarantine, or 5 days if they provide another negative test.
“Don’t forget everybody” – said Johnson- “when you’re coming into the UK, that you have to have a test 72 hours before you fly, you have to have a passenger locater form, the airline will kick you off if you don’t produce either of those. And then they test your passenger locater form. And then of course you need to quarantine for 10 days — five days with another negative test.”
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