Travellers from abroad must enter quarantine for 14 days from June
UK home secretary Priti Patel has confirmed that new measures are to be introduced at the UK border to guard against a second wave of infections.
Anyone entering the UK from June 8 onwards must self-isolate for 14 days, in a move that has been announced in Scotland’s road map out of the lockdown though more details are expected.
Ms Patel said that it is important not to squander the hard work of public obeying the lockdown to allow international arrivals at airports to trigger a potentially deadly second wave.
The new policy will be in place across the UK but the devolved administrations will decide how it is enforced in their own nations while in England those disobeying the 14 day quarantine could be fined £1000.
Border Force chief Paul Lincoln said in the case of someone not having a safe and suitable place to go they will be required to stay in government arranged "facilities” at their own own expense.
However, some key workers such as medical professionals helping to treat the virus, seasonal agricultural workers staying on the farms where they are working and haulage drivers will be exempt from the scheme.
Ms Patel said: “I'm announcing today the next step in our cross-government approach and let me explain why we are bringing these as other restrictions finally ease after two long months of lockdown.
“The answer as to why we are bringing these measures in now is to protect that hard-won progress and prevent a devastating resurgence in the second wave of the virus.
“This will require international arrivals to self-isolate for 14 days – that is the incubation period of the virus so that if people have become infected overseas, we can limit the spread of the virus at home.
“As we are taking this action, we are taking at the time when it will be most effective. Passengers arrivals have been down by 99 per cent compared to the previous year.
“Now we are past the peak of this virus we must take steps to guard against imported cases triggering a resurgence of this deadly disease and as the transmission rate across the UK falls and the number of travellers begins to increase, imported cases begin to pose a larger and increased threat.
“This is because they could become a higher proportion of the overall number of infections in the UK and therefore increase the spread of the disease so with far fewer being infected in this country and with the public having worked so hard to bring the R-number down any new arrivals entering the country with the disease during this next phase will have a much bigger impact potentially causing a second wave.”
