Passengers traveling to the UK will face tougher quarantine measures, including enforced stays in hotels, repeated tests and the threat of fines and even jail, as authorities seek to get a grip on the coronavirus pandemic.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock outlined plans for quarantine restrictions coming into force in England from Feb. 15, in an attempt to prevent dangerous new virus strains entering the country.
Travelers arriving from 33 nations on the government’s “red list” will be forced to pay 1,750 pounds ($2,410) per person for solo travelers to isolate in a hotel for 10 days.
The government has signed contracts with only 16 hotels to provide 4,600 rooms so far, Hancock said, promising more rooms will be booked as needed.
The government is in contact with authorities in Scotland and Ireland, and measures will apply to British and Irish residents. “We must strengthen our defenses yet further,” Hancock said, adding that the rules will be backed by “strong enforcement.”
Under the plans:
- All passengers will be required by law to take further coronavirus tests on day 2 and day 8 of quarantine
- Arrivals failing to take tests will face 1,000-pound fines
- Anyone caught lying on the passenger forms and trying to conceal they have been in a country on the red list in the 10 days before arrival in the U.K. will face a prison sentence of as much as 10 years.
Under the plans:
- All passengers will be required by law to take further coronavirus tests on day 2 and day 8 of quarantine
- Arrivals failing to take tests will face 1,000-pound fines
- Anyone caught lying on the passenger forms and trying to conceal they have been in a country on the red list in the 10 days before arrival in the U.K. will face a prison sentence of as much as 10 years.