Sports stars and TV crews among those exempt from new quarantine restrictions
Business travellers, journalists and elite sports personalities will be among those exempt from the government’s 14-day quarantine restrictions from tomorrow.
At the moment, anyone returning from a destination that’s not on the government’s travel corridors list is subject to a mandatory 14-day self-isolation. Even those transiting through a country that’s not on the travel corridors list will be subject to quarantine.
Travellers can shorten this to five days under the test to release system by paying for a private test on day five, provided it returns a negative result. However, the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, confirmed on Twitter that certain individuals will be exempt from all quarantine restrictions on arrival in England. While announcing this week’s travel corridor changes, he tweeted: “New Business Traveller exemption: From 4am on Sat 5th Dec high-value business travellers will no longer need to self-isolate when returning to ENGLAND from a country NOT in a travel corridor, allowing more travel to support the economy and jobs. Conditions apply.
“From 4am on Sat 5th Dec certain performing arts professionals, TV production staff, journalists and recently signed elite sportspersons will also be exempt, subject to specific criteria being met – guidance will be available on gov.uk soon.”
It’s not clear whether this rule might be extended to other parts of the UK, as Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all have their own travel restrictions.
Mr Shapps also confirmed that there would be no additions or removals from the travel corridors list this week.
England has just ended its month-long lockdown where all leisure travel was banned and is now operating under a three-tier system where travel restrictions vary according to which area of the country you live in.
While all three tiers are permitted to travel abroad, those living in tier 3 areas are not allowed to travel domestically for holidays. There has been growing frustration with the travel corridors list in recent weeks.
New destinations continue to be added each week but many are not accessible to those living in the UK via direct flights. A stopover or change of flights elsewhere would invariably trigger a need to self-isolate on return.
In addition, most of Africa remains off the travel corridors list, despite many nations on the continent having far lower infection rates than in the UK.