Passengers arriving in the UK from high-risk countries should and must quarantine compulsorily in government-managed hotel rooms for 10 days starting Monday. This is to ensure that to check the spread of the new coronavirus strain from entering the country.
To ease the plans of the third lockdown and to keep away the vaccine-resistant variants of Covid-19, is crucial for the Prime Minister as lockdown in the country will once again affect businesses and schools which are still reeling with the deepest slump in three centuries.
With 15 million people vaccinated in the UK alone, there are plans to reopen the economy as the PM wants children to go to school from March 08 onwards. The PM has also announced that there would be a road map plotting out the restrictions on February 22.
These new quarantine measures will be taken for passengers who are visiting from 33 countries that are under the UK travel ban list and it is applicable for visitors who have landed in the country for the previous 10 days. This country list is where the South Africa variant is prevalent.
Anyone who attempts to conceal visits from these red-zone countries can face a maximum of 10 years in prison.
Matt Hancock, UK Health Secretary said in a press meet, “As this deadly virus evolves, so must our defenses, The rules coming into force today will bolster the quarantine system and provide another layer of security against new variants at the border.”
The government has struck a deal with 16 hotels which has agreed to provide 4,963 rooms for the new quarantine system and further 58,000 rooms on standby. For an individual traveler, the cost of stay would be around 1,750 Pounds.
Non-UK residents from these red-zone countries are banned from entering the kingdom and UK residents who wish to return to the country need to produce a Covid-19 negative certificate and isolate for 10 days mandatorily.
