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How will the 14-day UK travel quarantine work?

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The Government has announced details of its travel quarantine arrangements this afternoon.

As had been trailed, virtually all arrivals into the UK will need to enter into quarantine for 14 days on arrival.  For non-UK citizens / residents, Border Force will be allowed to refuse entry if they believe that the visitor will not abide by these arrangements.

The exact details will not be known until full written Government guidance is published.

This is what was announced:

When does the new quarantine system begin?

8th June

Who is covered by the quarantine ruling?

Everyone entering the United Kingdom from anywhere except Channel Islands, Isle of Man and Ireland, except for freight drivers, doctors and scientists entering for coronavirus-related work and fruit pickers.

How does it work?

Arrivals will need to have filled in an ‘online contact locator’ form before arriving in the country.  It will not be a Government requirement to have completed the form but airlines may at their discretion refuse to carry passengers who have not done so.  This will be used for quarantine enforcement and for contacting travellers if any fellow passengers on their flight, boat or train falls ill.

Arrivals must leave the port or airport by car, wherever possible, and head to a location where they will quarantine for 14 days.  Travellers should not receive visitors and should not leave their quarantine to buy food or other supplies if possible.

Hotel accommodation will be provided for arrivals who do not have accommodation arranged.

Other people who are staying in the same house as someone who is quarantining do not have to enter quarantine.

What is the fine for breaking quarantine?

The police will not be directly involved in enforcing quarantine.

Public health officials and ‘private contractors’ will be responsible for visiting arriving travellers.  (It is unclear how this will work as I doubt either of these groups has the legal right to enter your property.)  In theory, these contractors will supply the police with details of those who were not at their stated address so that the police can issue a fixed penalty of £1,000.  Other parts of the UK can set their own arrangements.

When will these measure be reviewed?

The measures will be reviewed every three weeks.

The official guidance should be available on this page of the Government website very soon.

Comments (236)

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  • Mike P says:

    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:

      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:

        99%? Where do you find that stat?

        • J says:

          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:

            Yes, 33.46% of stats are made up.

          • Anna says:

            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:

            Very true Anna 😂

          • Rob says:

            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:

            Will Hancock go on a lavish holiday?

          • Lady London says:

            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,?

  • Riccatti says:

    People arriving in France from the UK will have to self-isolate for 14 days from 8 June, the French government has announced. It comes after Home Secretary Priti Patel revealed quarantine plans for visitors to the UK from the same date. France said it would impose reciprocal measures for any European country enforcing a quarantine.

    What is this but a contest..

    • Anna says:

      Also, I thought Brussels had declared that member states have to be non-discriminatory and proportionate in the way they apply entry rules? Tit for tat decisions would seem to comply with neither of these. Or is that just for us?!

      • meta says:

        It’s for Spain as well. I think UK media as usual are interpreting this incorrectly. From what I’ve been reading in French media, it will be valid until 15 June when EU wide measures for relaxation kick in.

    • Lady London says:

      Hold on… Boris DID start off wsnting to quarantine all arrivals except from Ireland and FRANCE.

      Given quarantine at this stage is going to make very little difference to health, it was a nice gesture to exempt the 300,000 old British people in France from it as well as the 300,000 young French people in the UK. Oh, and given all the British soldiers who left their bones in French soil in two world wars in the past century.

      Then the EU told Boris we were not allowed to distinguish between arrivals from any EU country, the UK could not just accept travellers from France.

      So Boris has announced everyone’s quarantined except arrivals from Ireland.

      Whereupon France has miraculously announced quarantine for people arriving in France from Britain, starting from the exact same date in 16 days:time.

      We can’t really win, can we ?

      • Bazza says:

        That’s the French for you!

        No wonder the Leave vote won!

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