How much will it cost and where will I actually stay?
Hotel quarantine, as used since last March in Asia and Australasia, will start in the UK on Monday15 February.
“There are still too many people coming in and out of our country every day,” said the home secretary, Priti Patel.
She has promised additional measures to reduce the number of people travelling as “a necessary step to protect the public”.
These are the key questions and answers.
What new restrictions are there for the UK?
Quarantine is currently mandatory for all overseas arrivals except for those from Ireland. Since 18 January, the government has insisted on all arrivals presenting a negative test for coronavirus that has been taken within three days of departure (or longer if an en route stop is involved).
Now the government is to impose mandatory hotel quarantine for arrivals from the 33 countries on the government’s “red list” – aimed at limiting the spread of new variants of coronavirus.
These nations, mostly in southern Africa and South America, are currently subject to specific restrictions.
This is called a travel ban, but is actually a prohibition of direct flights. UK citizens and residents are free to come back by alternative routes.
Direct flights are not allowed from 14 African nations (Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Democratic Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe). Flights from three island nations off the coast of Africa – Cape Verde, Mauritius and the Seychelles – have been banned. In normal times they are popular holiday destinations with direct flights from the UK.
The entire continent of South America, as well as Panama, is on the list – adding another 14 countries.
The most significant nation, though, in terms of British visitors and expatriates, is Portugal. At present it is the only European country subject to a flight ban.
British and Irish citizens, as well as third-country nationals with residential rights in the UK, can come in whenever they like but must follow the rules. Currently that means self-isolating along with their households for 10 days, but from 15 February they must undergoing hotel quarantine for 10 nights – effectively 11 days.
Ministers are also considering tracking the phones of arriving travellers, to ensure they are complying with the rules, or establishing a system of daily registration with a central database.
How will candidates for hotel quarantine be identified?
Because direct flights from locations currently designated as high risk are banned, passengers will be travelling in from “safe” countries. That could present problems to UK Border Force.
But very few travellers from anywhere are coming in at present, and by 15 February there will be even fewer from “red list” countries – since they have been given plenty of warning about the start of hotel quarantine. UK border officials will inspect passports for evidence and ask to see boarding passes and travel itineraries.
How will hotel quarantine work?
Details are still unclear. In Australia, New Zealand and many Asian nations the standard arrangement is for border officials to board the plane on arrival to give instructions.
Passengers obliged to undergo hotel quarantine are escorted through the airport, including a health screen process, and taken to a nearby hotel, sometimes under police escort.
According to documents seen by the BBC, those hotels will be exclusively for the use of quarantining travellers. The cost of £800-£1,000 per person will include three meals a day brought to their rooms, with tea, coffee, fruit and water available. Anyone who wants to get fresh air or smoke will need to be accompanied by a security guard.
If the Australian model is followed, alcohol will be available – at a price.