Red list trips are safer than staying at home, data show

HOLIDAYMAKERS travelling to red list countries have less chance of catching Covid than people who remain in the UK, official figures show.

For the first time, the infection rate of those in hotel quarantine after returning from red list countries has fallen below that in the UK.

The proportion of positive test results from red list travellers in quarantine dropped to 0.77 per cent in the middle of the month, fewer than one in every 120 people. By contrast, the proportion testing positive in the UK stood at 1.14 per cent, according to the latest figures from NHS Test and Trace.

The disclosure will raise further questions over why the Government is continuing to require Britons returning from red list countries to pay £2,285 per person to go into hotel quarantine when so few are testing positive.

Suzanne Lugthart, a research strategist who analysed the data, said: “The people incarcerated in English quarantine hotels at huge cost to their bank balances and mental health are less likely to test positive for Covid than the population at large for the fourth week in a row.”

The UK has 54 countries on its red list, more than any EU nation.