UK quarantine system fails

London: Britain's new system for booking a room in its mandatory hotel quarantine scheme was yesterday taken offline shortly after it launched.

The government said this week it would require passengers arriving from countries where worrying coronavirus variants are spreading to pay for 10 days of quarantine in hotels.

However, the booking portal for the quarantine scheme was removed just hours after it launched, which a government website said was due to ``a minor technical issue''.