New rules for visitors ‘will allow for trips to food shops’
TRAVELLERS ARRIVING in the UK under new quarantine rules will be allowed to leave isolation to shop for food and other essentials.
The rules, expected to be set out by Home Secretary Priti Patel today, have caused unease in the Tory ranks and have been condemned by businesses.
The plans will involve all arrivals in the UK completing an online form to supply contact details and the address where they will self-isolate.
Anyone failing to comply faces a £1,000 fixed penalty or potential prosecution and unlimited fine.
Removal from the country will be considered for foreign nationals who do not comply, said the Home Office.
The plans, due to come into force on Monday, will mean people arriving in the UK being told to isolate for 14 days to prevent coronavirus being introduced from overseas. The restrictions will be similar to those imposed during the lockdown.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “I think there will be a limited set of exemptions, just as there was during the nationwide lockdown.
“For example, I would expect people only to be able to leave the property in which they are quarantining if they need urgent medical treatment, support from social services, food or medicine which they cannot get delivered or get anybody else to bring to them, an emergency in the place they are staying – such as a fire – or to attend a funeral of a close relative.”
Travellers will also be able to board public transport from the port or airport to where they will quarantine, although they will be encouraged to use private vehicles instead. The guidance “suggests that people should take private vehicles wherever possible.”
The Government is still looking at the prospect of “air bridges” between the UK and other countries which would be exempt from the quarantine rules, with Boris Johnson reported to be in favour of the plan.
Former Transport Minister Stephen Hammond called for the plan to quarantine all people arriving from outside the UK to be scrapped.