‘Our results are negative’ – signs from quarantine
TRAVELLERS HOLED UP IN HOTELS PROTEST USING SIGNS PRESSED AGAINST WINDOWS
TRAVELLERS staying in a quarantine hotel near London’s Heathrow Airport expressed their dismay with handmade signs, as they entered into a mandatory 10-day quarantine.
People staying in the hotel held up signs to the public outside, with one telling the world they had ‘negative’ Covid-19 test results, while another said she had flown to the UK for her mother’s funeral.
From yesterday, people travelling from 33 destinations on the government ‘red list’ now must quarantine for 14 days in a government-sanctioned hotel.
Photos of guests at the Radison Blu Edwardian hotel near Heathrow Airport showed people waving, signalling a thumbs down and holding up handwritten signs at their windows.
One woman held up a sign reading, “Our results are negative for COVID19.”
A second woman’s sign said, ““Essential travel. My mother’s funeral. Why made to pay £1750?”
A third person’s message simply said, “HELP.”
The new photos come after a couple staying at the same hotel said they felt like ‘prisoners with a nice bed.’
Married couple Wagner and Elaine Araujo arrived in the UK yesterday after visiting sick family members in Brazil.
The couple said they understood why the quarantining is necessary, but questioned the price tag of £2,400 for the two of them.
The new rules came into force at 4am yesterday, reports the BBC .
Heathrow and Gatwick are two of five airports in England where people requiring hotel quarantine can enter the UK, and Heathrow is expected to receive the largest number of passengers.
The ‘red list’ of high-risk countries includes Portugal, Brazil and South Africa, and the new rules apply to any arrivals who have been in one of those 33 countries in the past 10 days.
Quarantine arrangements must be booked online using a government portal before travel commences.
The new rules require passengers to have a negative Covid-19 test result in the 72 hours prior to their flight, as well as quarantining for 10 days upon their arrival in the UK.
Travellers then receive a further two NHS Test and Trace Covid tests - one on day two and one on day eight of quarantine – and, if either comes up positive, they will be required to stay longer.
The policy was announced late last month in response to the emergence of new variants of the novel coronavirus that are more resistant to existing vaccines.
The cost of the 10-day quarantine stands at £1,750 per person, including the hotel stay, transport, and testing.
The additional bill for an extra adult or a child aged over 12 is £650, and £325 for a child aged five to 12.