A DECISION on quarantining visitors at hotels is likely to be announced today, Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi has said.
This month the UK Government has been implementing some measures at the border aimed at stopping Covid-19 spreading through travel.
Overseas visitors are now required to have a negative Covid-19 test before entering the UK, and there has been talk of strengthening rules further.
The UK borders have not been strictly controlled throughout the Covid-19 crisis. Initially overseas travellers were asked to quarantine on arriving in the UK only if they developed symptoms.
READ MORE: Covid testing at airports isn't enough – this is why we must be tougher on travel
Quarantine restrictions were briefly introduced last summer before a “travel corridors” system was set up to allow travel between countries without needing to quarantine.
According to public health experts, international travel helped to fuel the second wave of Covid-19. Countries like New Zealand and Australia, which have strictly controlled Covid-19 spread at their borders, have been praised for their response to tackling coronavirus.
The UK has the worst death rate in the world, it emerged last week, with more than 90,000 lives lost the virus since the start of the pandemic.
Zahawi told Sky News: “We review our border policy like any other responsible country would – Germany and Canada did a similar thing in January.
“We’ve done that with the pre-departure testing that is now required to enter the UK and of course with passenger locator forms.
“There will be an announcement on this issue later on today, so I can only say to you that it is the right thing to do, because I am the Vaccines Minister, that as we vaccinate more of the adult population, if there are new variants like the South African or the Brazilian variants, we need to be very careful.
“We acted on those very quickly and of course dealt with travel from those countries, and from Portugal and elsewhere, rapidly so it is important we continue to review our border policy and an announcement will be made when a decision has been taken.
“And of course the industry itself will be engaged with heavily, including (Health Secretary) Matt Hancock engaging with the industry to explain the decision making at health, as well as of course the business department with the Business Secretary.”
Rob Paterson, chief executive of Best Western hotels group, said travellers returning to the UK could expect to pay “considerably reduced” prices for a stay in one of the group’s hotels for their quarantine period – although he did not give a figure.
He told BBC Breakfast: “Naturally, we’d much rather be open and trading at our normal levels, but what we’re doing at the moment is just about covering costs.
“Most hoteliers across the entire country are losing thousands and thousands of pounds every month, so a contract just to stem the losses would be a welcome contract for our hotel, and we stand ready to support the Government on that.”
He added that the franchise could mobilise hotels for quarantining travellers returning to the UK “within 24 to 48 hours”.
Paterson told BBC Breakfast: “Through our project with the NHS supporting discharge patients, we’ve got the protocols and the whole infection control management side of things taken care of…
“We could turn this around within 24 to 48 hours for an open hotel, and a bit longer for an unopened hotel.”
He added that for returning travellers this would be an “entirely contactless and quite a sterile experience”.
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