New rules that require those arriving in the UK from 33 countries on the government’s red list to enter a minimum of ten days' hotel quarantine have entered into force today, despite last minute concerns over their implementation and technical problems with the system which allows travellers to book their quarantine packages.
Commenting on the implementation of the new measures, health and social care secretary Matt Hancock, said: “With the emergence of new variants, we must go further. The rules coming into force today will bolster the quarantine system and provide another layer of security against new variants at the border.
“These new measures are important to protect our vaccination programme, which has now seen 15 million people vaccinated. We all work towards restoring normal life.”
Speaking to Times Radio this morning, Hancock said that the system was working “smoothly”.
He said that a walkthrough of the arrival system was held at Heathrow on Sunday in order to work through concerns raised by the airport over the weekend.
Hancock said arrivals pass through a separate channel at the border and are then guided by a security team supported by the police to collect their luggage before travelling to the hotel.
A Heathrow spokesperson told BTN Europe today: "The implementation of stricter border measures came into effect successfully this morning. Queues at the border are currently less than an hour long, but this isn't about one day.
“We will continue to monitor and seek assurance from our Border Force colleagues that they maintain adequate resource and effective processes to avoid unacceptable waiting times and compromising the safety of passengers."
Meanwhile, a quarantine hotel booking system being managed by Corporate Travel Management on behalf of the government now appears to be working correctly after it faced technical problems when first launched.
The government says it has struck deals with 16 hotels so far, providing 4,963 rooms for the new quarantine system. The hotels include the Radisson Blu Edwardian Hotel, the Renasissance London Heathrow and the Novotel Heathrow. A further 58,000 rooms are currently on standby.