UK home secretary Priti Patel has confirmed the government
is committed to reviewing its quarantine measures for international arrivals
every three weeks, with the first assessment due to take place by 29 June.
The restrictions will come into force on 8 June and will see
travellers forced to self-isolate on arrival into the country for 14 days.
Those who are caught breaking quarantine could face a £1,000 fine or prosecution.
The rules will not apply for transport workers such as lorry drivers, medical
professionals travelling for work and seasonal agricultural workers, passengers
in transit to another country (so long as they do not pass through UK border
control) and UK residents who ordinarily travel overseas at least once a week
for work, as well as those arriving from Ireland, the Channel Islands and the
Isle of Man.
Travellers will have to complete an online locator form to
supply contact details, travel details and the address where they will self-isolate
before their journey and could face a £100 fine if they fail to comply. Information
provided on the forms will be used by Public Health England to contact people
at random to ensure they understand the requirements of the quarantine.
Patel said the government is looking at ways to form “air
bridges” with countries that have a low infection rate to allow passengers to travel
to and from those nations without the need for quarantine, but no deals have
been agreed yet.
Giving a statement in the House of Commons today, Patel
committed the government to reviewing the measures every three weeks. These
assessments will take into account a number of factors to determine whether the
requirements can be relaxed, including the rate of infection internationally,
measures international partners have in place, levels of imported cases in
other countries that have relaxed their border policies and the degree to which
antibody and other testing methodologies prove effective in minimising the
health risk.
Patel said: “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 not to throw away our progress.”
Transport secretary Grant Shapps added: “These measures will
be reviewed every few weeks, and 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.”
The measures have been widely criticised by the travel
industry and within Parliament. Around 200 travel companies supported
by cross-party MPs have now signed a letter urging the government to ensure the requirement
is only temporary because any long-term restrictions can cause further
financial harm to the country and put more jobs at risk.
Clive Wratten, CEO of the Business Travel Association, said waiting
three weeks for the first review could be too late. “If we leave it until the
end of June before getting the first travel corridor in place, be it with
Italy, Spain, or Portugal, many jobs across the travel industry are at risk of
being lost forever,” Wratten warned.
“Quarantine crushes the innovation and dynamism that the home
secretary applauded today. At this desperately difficult time for our industry,
she offered no hope to the millions employed across the travel industry and its
supply chains. All of the country-specific criteria required for the
implementation of a travel corridor must be published immediately. There must
be transparency about why these travel corridors are being delayed.”
The French government has reportedly said it will
reciprocate the UK’s quarantine measures for Brits travelling into the country,
while Germany will continue to advise against travel to Britain despite plans
to remove its general warning for the rest of Europe on 15 June. Italy, which reopened its borders today, said it has yet to take part in any discussions regarding a potential air bridge.