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COVID-19: Announcement on necessary resort quarantine ‘immediately’, minister says | Enterprise Information

COVID-19: Announcement on mandatory hotel quarantine 'today', minister says | Business News

An announcement of mandatory hotel quarantine will come later, a government minister told Sky News, as it was “far too early” for Britons to think about booking a summer vacation.

“There will be an announcement on the matter later today,” said Vaccination Minister Nadhim Zahawi.

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When asked if people should hold back on booking a summer vacation, Mr. Zahawi replied, “Absolutely.”

He added, “I think it’s way too early.

“There are currently 37,000 people with COVID in the hospital. It is far too early to speculate about the summer at all.”

Travel industry sources have told Sky News that the rollout of the policy is imminent as the government tries to suppress new variants of the coronavirus.

They assume an announcement could be made today, but even those about to discuss it remains unclear how far the restrictions will go.

Sources believe that there are differing views among ministers as to whether restrictions should be placed on arrivals from all countries to the UK or simply from a prohibited list.

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Nadhim Zahawi believes it is too early to say whether summer vacation is likely to be advisable.

With hotel groups poised to accommodate thousands of arrivals, the move will be another hammer blow to the travel industry, signaling that overseas unrestricted travel is unlikely to return this summer.

Paul Charles, executive director of travel consultancy The PC Agency, said there are currently around 15,000 travelers arriving in the UK every day.

If you put them all in hotels, you have websites “across the UK,” he said.

“It doesn’t have to be all airport hotels,” continued Charles.

“Of course they have to make sure that these transfers are safe, and it will be logistically difficult, but airports are very used to coaching people to hotels in times of crisis or bad weather, etc.”

Senior government ministers will meet on Tuesday to discuss additional travel restrictions, including requiring travelers arriving in the UK to pay for quarantine at a specific hotel.

prime minister Boris Johnson has expressed concern that – as Britain’s vaccination program is being rolled out – there is a risk of a new one COVID A variant that is resistant to existing vaccines could develop abroad.

Asked at a press conference on Downing Street if he supports enforced hotel quarantine for all health ministers arriving in the UK Matt Hancock replied, “I think it’s incredibly important that we are careful at the border.”

Mr Hancock, who sits on the Cabinet’s COVID-O committee that will meet on Tuesday, highlighted how the government last week highlighted all of the UK travel corridors – which had allowed arrivals from some countries to avoid quarantine – until at least 15. February is closed.

And he stressed that it is currently “illegal” to travel abroad under England’s current national lockdown without a reasonable excuse, as provided by law.

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He added: “It is important that we protect ourselves from new variants if they evade the vaccine.

“And it is also sensible to put in place a precautionary principle to protect this land as we work on the science and analysis of the various varieties that are being discovered around the world.”

The previous Monday, Mr Johnson confirmed that it is certainly one thing that we are currently actively working on quarantining those arriving in the UK in hotels.

“We need a solution that offers us the greatest possible protection against re-infection from abroad,” he said.

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Is the UK vaccination program on target?

Australia and New Zealand are among the countries where arriving travelers are already required to quarantine themselves in approved accommodations.

Heathrow Airport has warned that requiring all international arrivals to the UK to enter quarantine would “have a huge impact” on the aviation sector.

“We support measures that end the COVID-19 crisis once and for all,” said a spokesman.

“We need to be aware, however, that blanket hotel quarantine is effectively closing our borders, which is having a huge impact on the UK and its aviation sector, which are already on their knees.”

The airport pushed Chancellor Rishi Sunak “Finally fulfilling its promise of a comprehensive financial support package for the UK aviation”.

Other industry associations warned of the “catastrophic” effects of further British border measures.