How will the 14-day UK travel quarantine work?

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• Scott says:

  23 May23 May 10:10

  The only way they could enforce this is by locking up everyone who enters the country in Government controlled detention centres or similar for 2 weeks.
  We’ve all seen that quite a few people ignore rules, and/or interpret them as they see fit.
  I wouldn’t trust anyone entering the country to abide by the rules 100%.

  Nothing to stop me on the drive home after arriving, making a number of stops for shopping, to see family and friends etc. before eventually going home. Could potentially infect half the country!

  Suppose they could check with your workplace if you’ve turned up there during those 2 weeks?

• Anna says:

  23 May23 May 10:57

  As previously stated, IMO the government just hasn’t thought this through, and that’s why they haven’t implemented it immediately and keep kicking the can down the road about when they are going to release the full details. They know enforcement of lockdown has been a shambles and will want to avoid a repeat of that. They need to get all the agencies on side and singing from the same hymn sheet. There’s a massive disconnect between what they want to achieve and the extent of authorities’ ability to enforce anything in this country – the “Youman Rights” brigade would be up in arms if we tried the kind of tactics which have been so successful in places like Taiwan and South Korea, while at the same time lambasting the government for not doing enough, soon enough. I think that it will ultimately be unworkable.

  • Anna says:

    23 May23 May 10:58

    * As in, “It’s against my youman rights, innit?”

    • mradey says:

      23 May23 May 13:59

      I wouldn’t be so flippant with HMG requiring house arrest for 14 days. That isn’t the country I knew.

      • Anna says:

        23 May23 May 14:55

        Absolutely nothing flippant about it, everything I said was drawn from decades of professional experience. Also there’s no such thing as “house arrest” in this country.

• Andrew says:

  23 May23 May 11:24

  For the few people that decide to travel, probably most will generally stay home to do the right thing for the greater good. A few won’t and not much will happen to them if they don’t, but that’s the same as most laws – you aren’t supposed to deal drugs, doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen, but most people don’t do it.

• J says:

  23 May23 May 12:11

  Surely this will be reciprocal and many countries will now ask UK citizens to quarantine for 2 weeks… Glad I have no desire or need to visit the UK anytime soon.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    23 May23 May 13:29

    Yes and most likely you will see exemptions on a reciprocal basis.

    • Yawn says:

      23 May23 May 23:25

      God I hope so. I need to leave the country for work, and do hope to be able to come back by the end of July as planned.

• Brian says:

  23 May23 May 12:25

  You say that the online form doesn’t HAVE to be filled out – according to the BBC, there is a £100 fine for failing to do so!

• Ian says:

  23 May23 May 13:02

  From what we know so far, this looks a right bloody mess. You should leave the airport if possible by car and if possible not go out to buy food etc. I imagine many people will not have a car available at the airport and, as for not going out to buy food, you’ll starve to death instead of dying of Covid? And how do you fill in an online form if you have no internet access? I would expect all these half-baked ideas to be “reviewed” before the implementation date.

  • J says:

    23 May23 May 13:16

    In countries with a strict quarantine someone else has to buy food for you – you literally cannot leave your apartment/hotel etc unless it’s a medical emergency or the building is on fire. I don’t think a strict quarantine in the UK is realistic – the police don’t have the resources or will to enforce it and since govt cronies can freely break the rules without any consequence (the govt now openly admitting Dominic Cummings is above the law) why should anyone else follow the rules?

    • CV3V says:

      23 May23 May 13:33

      probably just a coincidence, but Dominic’s mum, Morag, had her birthday in April.

      • Lady London says:

        23 May23 May 16:10

        Ahaaaaaaaaha !!! doubtless “just a coincidence”

      • Crafty says:

        25 May25 May 09:14

        It was on the date of the first trip.

        The second trip was his wife’s birthday.

• CV3V says:

  23 May23 May 13:30

  2 eurostar trains per day also still arriving into St Pancras. France has just said they will ask UK arrivals to quarantine, the Telegraph describes it as ‘retaliation’.

  Wonder if there will be some sort of rush to get into the UK before the quarantine rules come in. In other countries they give little notice to prevent a rush occurring, which gives a different set of problems for people. Will be interesting to see if flights and Eurostar getting busier in advance.

  • J says:

    23 May23 May 13:48

    Who wants to go to the UK that badly right now? I would think it will mostly be UK residents or relatives of people with close ties to the UK who’d contemplate travelling there any time soon.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      23 May23 May 14:04

      Right now it’s 1 in 1000 that have it. Your risk of catching it is tiny and the risk of dying depends on your personal health / age. The level of fear is disproportionate to the actual risk.

      There have obviously been lots of people still coming to the UK over the past two months when it had higher prevalence. That didn’t stop people entering for whatever reason they had.

    • CV3V says:

      23 May23 May 15:46

      Well regardless of the reasons for coming into the UK I hope that all the passengers arriving on the SU2582 from Moscow at 1600 hrs are wearing a face mask (but only if they want to), and get a car home (if they can).

• Harry T says:

  23 May23 May 14:08

  Looks like NHS workers would be covered by the exemption list under point four:
  “ a registered health or care professional travelling to the UK to provide essential healthcare, including where this is not related to coronavirus”

  • Anna says:

    23 May23 May 14:46

    There’s loads – police, telecoms engineers, most of the professions already classed as “key workers”, in fact.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    23 May23 May 14:47

    Good to know all of these exempt professions can’t bring Covid-19 in with them to spread the virus like those in other professions.

    • Anna says:

      23 May23 May 14:54

      To be fair, a lot of them are going to pose far less risk from having been on holiday than they do in their day to day jobs!

      • TGLoyalty says:

        23 May23 May 15:40

        But that’s not the point with all these exempt people it’s a farce.

        • Anna says:

          23 May23 May 15:49

          The whole thing is a farce, TG, as I have pointed out several times on this thread!

      • Anna says:

        23 May23 May 21:00

        Reason for travel isn’t mentioned, just reason for returning. There’s no way they could prove who’s been on holiday and who hasn’t.

    • Harry T says:

      23 May23 May 15:28

      It’s a good point, @TGLoyalty. I think the quarantine is a political move.

      @Anna is right – I stand a much greater chance of acquiring covid at the hospital than I would in France etc

      • Anna says:

        23 May23 May 15:49

        Well quite – though I am not having much success pointing out to my OH that he takes more of a risk at work every day than he would in a villa in the Med!

        • meta says:

          23 May23 May 16:59

          This is my personal favourite (last on the list):

          “a person who resides in the UK and who pursues an activity as an employed or self-employed person in another country to which they usually go at least once a week.”

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