How will the 14-day UK travel quarantine work?

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• 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.

  • GeorgeJ says:

    23 May23 May 11:48

    They dont need to rush with this as long as we are generating @60,000 new cases a week (findings from ONS survey data) and have an active infected population of @1.5-2 per thousand.. Even if arrivals have the same incidence as our own (high incidence) population the number coming in per week who will be positive almost makes no difference. It only makes a difference if our rate of infection falls and lots of people go off on holiday and bring it back. The announcement itself stops most of us planning holidays until we see what happens.
    Don’t be surprised to see the FCO restriction continue and the implementation of the ban extend out a bit further if the rate doesnt fall.

• 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!

  • GeorgeJ says:

    23 May23 May 12:34

    More importantly the government release makes it clear that there is a GBP100 fine for not providing the form.
    Though there is a long list of exemptions from self isolation, there are very few for filling in details of where you will be staying.

• 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!

      • GeorgeJ says:

        23 May23 May 19:22

        Its nothing to do with holiday, they are allowed in without quarantine if they are doing their day jobs!

        • 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.”

• Mike P says:

  23 May23 May 14:16

  The quarantine rules will stop the vast bulk of people even considering flying until it’s rescinded. The knowledge of the general public and desire to get round the rules in order to be able to travel is nothing like the average level of knowledge of posters on here or Flyertalk.

  • Andrew says:

    23 May23 May 14:43

    Absolutely agree – they are the same people that use a debit card for their day to day expenses rather than earn any miles. 99% of the population will not fly until quarantine and the FCO advice changes.

    • CV3V says:

      23 May23 May 15:35

      99%? Where do you find that stat?

      • J says:

        23 May23 May 15:43

        Probably made up like most stats 😉 I’m sure some Tory MPs and advisors will travel anyway to their place in the south of France and ignore the quarantine on their return.

        • CV3V says:

          23 May23 May 15:51

          Yes, 33.46% of stats are made up.

        • Anna says:

          23 May23 May 15:51

          They will be able to observe quarantine in their constituency homes as parliament will be in recess for the summer. I have no doubt whatsoever that we will see MPs going off on their planned summer jaunts while the rest of us spend the next 2 months on the phone trying to get refunds or vouchers!

        • J says:

          23 May23 May 16:20

          Very true Anna 😂

        • Rob says:

          23 May23 May 16:52

          If you fly UK-Dublin-Nice you don’t need to quarantine anyway. Ireland lets you transit despite having quarantine rules if you want to leave the airport.

        • Optimus Prime says:

          23 May23 May 19:55

          Will Hancock go on a lavish holiday?

        • Lady London says:

          23 May23 May 22:37

          Thats why MP’s are on the list of key workers.

          Is there a reason the Houses of Parliament are located right on the Thames with that lovely high bridge over it? Shall we re-use the 8pm Thursday slot for chucking these MP’s in,?

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