New rules call as gig workers feel pressured
Arrivals may be ordered to stay in ‘quarantine hotels’ Negative test and 10-day isolation are now compulsory
JUST THE SWOB Test centre at Heathrow
TRAVELLERS arriving in the UK face being forced to self-isolate in hotels – months after other countries took similar steps – amid growing fears over mutant Covid variants.
Compulsory quarantine for all arrivals is finally introduced today, 353 days after the UK’s first confirmed case.
It comes after experts accused the Government of being “lax” over border controls as cases and deaths spiral.
From now until at least February 15, arrivals must prove they tested negative in the past 72 hours and quarantine where they are staying for 10 days. Curbs were meant to start on Friday but were delayed, allowing people to pour into the UK unchecked.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab dismissed claims the move had come too late. And during a TV grilling, he said ministers “considered all possibilities” CRITICISM when asked if New Dominic Raab Zealand-style quarantine hotels were an option here.
Strict rules have been in place in New Zealand and in Australia for months. Both nations closed their borders to almost all arrivals last March, with any international travellers forced to isolate in hotels for 14 days.
The UK is also playing catch-up by introducing mandatory testing for travellers, which have long been in place in countries such as France and Spain.
Ministers earlier came under fire for dithering before banning flights from South America on Friday after the highly transmissible Brazil variant emerged.
SAGE expert Prof John Edmunds said there had been many failings. The
MINISTERS are under pressure to tighten Covid-safety rules for workplaces amid safety fears. One in 10 insecure workers – 350,000 people in the gig economy, agency workers or those on zero-hours contracts – were back at their jobs inside the 10-day selfisolation period after a positive test due to poor statutory sick pay. Around 4% – or
1.2 million people – in the wider workforce went back to their job within 10 days.
The RSA think-tank also found 12% of all workers had been ordered back into the office when they could have worked from home. Alan Lockey, head of the RSA’s future of work programme, urged Chancellor Rishi Sunak to end the “terrible trade-off” many workers face between their health and feeding their families. Shadow Employment Rights Secretary Andy McDonald said: “Without tighter restrictions and better enforcement, the Government is putting workers at risk.”
Quarantine has been lax, for arrivals and for those in contact with cases
SAGE’S PROF EDMUNDS ON THE GOVERNMENT’S APPROACH
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine epidemiologist told Times Radio: “If you’re going to have quarantine then you should probably make it as effective as you can. Ours has been rather lax – not just for visitors coming into the UK, the vast majority of whom do not have Covid
– also with quarantine of individuals in contact with indigenous cases. We’ve been pretty lax about that.”
As well as New Zealand’s approach, Poland’s use of GPS and facial-recognition to ensure self-isolation rules are followed is also said to be an option.
Mr Raab told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on
Sunday: “We will consider all the measures in the round. We are going to be strengthening checks at the border, so when people come in to make sure they have filled out the passenger location form, that they have that negative test they have to vouch for before they get on the flight.”
In another interview, he said: “I don’t accept we have been too slow in this – we are broadly the same pace in terms of Canada and Germany.”
Labour’s Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Jonathan Reynolds demanded to know why it had taken almost a year and tens of thousands of deaths for new rules to come in. He said: “We have seen what went on in other countries and I think we were told those restrictions weren’t effective, they weren’t worth doing but clearly they are so I don’t understand why it’s taken so long.”
Lucy Moreton, of the Immigration
Services Union, told the Home Affairs Committee last week only one in 10 arrivals were being checked to ensure they complied with previous rules.
Mr Raab also said Brits should not plan holidays with the NHS “on the cusp” of being overwhelmed. “People should be staying at home unless absolutely necessary.” Foreign travel is largely banned under lockdown.
It is another blow to aviation bosses who have issued pleas for urgent support as airports face “nearcomplete shutdown”. But Aviation Minister Robert Courts promised on Saturday grants would be available by the end of March.