The Government is imposing UK border restrictions on travellers, including British residents, arriving in England from Coronavirus hotspots. Passengers will be taken form airports directly to designated hotels where they will have to remain in quarantine, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced.
The new rules will apply to anyone coming from South
America, southern Africa and Portugal.
The strict new measures also apply to British nationals and residents
entering from high-risk countries who will be required to quarantine in a hotel
at their own expense for up to 10 days.
Speaking to the House of Commons on Wednesday, Mr Johnson
told MPs that all travel from 22 countries, including South Africa, Portugal
and South American nations, had been banned.
He said that whilst all such arrivals would not be refused
entry, they would be required to isolate in government provided accommodation,
such as hotels, for 10 days "without exception".
People from certain countries will now be met at the airport
and "transported directly into quarantine", with the Department of
Health and Social Care (DHSC) working to set up these facilities.
Since the start of the pandemic, travellers from almost
every country were issued with a letter asking them to “self-isolate” and then
allowing them to travel on public transport with no test or even a temperature
check.
Even though passengers will still be allowed into the UK
from high-risk countries like the USA, a travel ban on UK citizens for leisure
purposes will be enforced at airports and ports.
Mr Johnson said: "Under the stay-at-home regulations,
it is illegal to leave home to travel abroad for leisure purposes and we
will enforce this at ports and airports by asking people why they are leaving
and instructing them to return home if they do not have a valid reason to
travel."
The Home Secretary Priti Patel said it was "clear that
there are too many people coming in and out of our country each day" and
that border measures would be toughened up to "reduce passenger flow"
and protect the UK's "world-leading" vaccination programme.
Outlining other border measures, Ms Patel said police would
increase checks at home addresses to ensure arrivals were complying with
self-isolation rules and that the UK would continue to refuse entry non-UK
citizens from "red list" countries which were already subject to the
travel ban.
The Home Secretary also announced a new requirement for
people wishing to travel abroad, who will now need make a declaration stating “why
they needed to travel”, which would be checked by carriers prior to departure.
"Going on holiday is not a valid reason," she
said.
More police will be deployed at ports and airports with
fines for those found to be in breach of stay-at-home regulations.
Ms Patel added that "Anyone who doesn't have a valid
reason for travel will be directed to return home or they will face a
fine."
This is the first time a restriction on leaving the country
has been imposed on UK citizens outside of wartime.
However, it has not been made clear why the UK borders
remain open to dozens of countries with high infection rates while UK citizens,
currently in a third national lockdown, are banned from visiting countries with
lower infection rates than Britain.
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