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TRAVELLERS FROM HIGH-RISK COVID COUNTRIES ‘WILL HAVE TO QUARANTINE IN HOTELS’
NEW quarantine rules which require travellers from high-risk coronavirus countries to isolate in hotels when they arrive in England are expected to be announced today.
Home secretary Priti Patel is tipped to unveil the measures despite warnings from the travel industry that they could cost the UK economy £548million a day in lost income.
Exact details were yet to be confirmed but the BBC reported that arrivals from most of southern Africa and South America would be subject to the rules.
Affected travellers are expected to be forced to stay for ten days in designated rooms, guarded by security staff. And it is thought they will have to pay about £1,500 for the privilege, with the bill including the cost of three meals a day.
It is hoped the restrictions will help to reduce the spread of new variants of the virus in the UK.
Boris Johnson is believed to have signed off on the proposals at a meeting with cabinet ministers yesterday.
Earlier, the vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi warned that the UK needs to be ‘very careful’ as new strains emerge.
In the Commons, Ms Patel declined to comment on ‘ speculation’ about quarantine hotels but said the government would ‘not hesitate to take further action’ to protect the country. Labour’s Nick Thomas-Symonds, the shadow home secretary, called for a ‘comprehensive hotel quarantine system.’
One major hotel chain said it could mobilise inside 48 hours. Rob Paterson, chief executive of Best Western GB, told BBC Breakfast: ‘Through our project with the NHS supporting discharge patients, we’ve got the protocols and infection control management side taken care of.
‘We could turn this around within 24 to 48 hours for an open hotel, and a bit longer for an unopened hotel.’
Travel industry leaders urged ministers to introduce more limited restrictions amid warnings quarantine rules would be ‘catastrophic’ for their finances.