Home Office lays out quarantine rules

Home Office lays out quarantine rules

The Home Office and Department for Transport published the rules covering quarantine restrictions today.

The quarantine measures require arrivals to the UK to self-isolate for 14 days and will come into force on June 8.

The government insists they are “designed to prevent new cases [of coronavirus] being brought in from abroad and to prevent a second wave of the virus”.

All arrivals “bar a shortlist of exemptions” will be required to complete an online locator form, with contact and travel details and the address where they will self-isolate.

The UK’s Border Force will undertake checks and may refuse entry to any non-resident foreign nationals who refuse to comply.

The rules exclude travellers to and from Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.

They will be reviewed every three weeks, with the first review by June 29.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said: “Protecting the public’s health and avoiding a second peak that overwhelms the NHS will always be our top priority.

“As we get the virus under control here, we must manage the risk of cases being imported from abroad. We owe it to the thousands who’ve lost their lives.”

She insisted: “These measures are informed by science, backed by the public and will keep us safe.

“We will take a number of factors into account within the reviews to satisfy that the risk of imported cases is low.”

These factors will include:

The rate of infection and transmission internationally and “the credibility of the reporting measures international partners have put in place”;

Levels of imported cases in other countries where there are more relaxed border measures;

The degree to which antibody and other testing methodologies prove effective in minimising the health risk.

Patel said: “We will also continue to take account of the impact on the economy and industry.”

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps confirmed the government is examining “arrangements known as ‘air bridges’ or international travel corridors which would remove self-isolation measures and safely open up routes to and from countries with low transmission rates”.

These would require agreement with individual countries, he said, adding: “We are working with the transport industry to see how we can introduce agreements with other countries when safe to do so, so we can go abroad and tourists can come here.”