Britain’s COVID-19 hotel quarantine policy to start February 15
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Britain’s hotel quarantine policy for travellers arriving from COVID-19 hot spots will start on Feb. 15, the government announced on Thursday after critics said it was not moving fast enough to bring in the measures.
The mandatory 10-day stay in government-provided accommodation, first announced last month, is designed to tighten borders against new variants of the coronavirus which could endanger Britain’s vaccination programme.
Opposition lawmakers have criticised Boris Johnson’s government for not implementing the plan more quickly, saying the delay was putting lives at risk.
The prime minister said on Wednesday details would be announced on Thursday, only to be contradicted by his spokesman less than 24 hours later.
In the announcement, the government said it had been consulting the travel and hotel industries, and would now finalise plans, including contracting hotels near ports and airports.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock had discussed the policy with his counterpart in Australia, where quarantine was introduced in March 2020, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said. Officials would also seek advice from New Zealand.
