Anyone arriving in UK will have to quarantine themselves for 14 days from June 8

New measures at the UK border to guard against a second wave of coronavirus infections have been announced by the Home Secretary today.

Anyone arriving in the UK from June 8 –  bar a short list of exemptions – will have to self isolate for 14 days.

They will have to tell the authorities where they will be staying and face spot checks to ensure they are quarantining themselves.

All new arrivals will be required to fill in contact locator form

Anyone failing to comply with the mandatory conditions may face enforcement action. 

A breach of self-isolation would be punishable with a £1,000 fixed penalty notice in England or potential prosecution and unlimited fine – Wales will set its own levels of fines and punishments for non compliance. 

Border Force will undertake checks at the border and may refuse entry to any non-British citizen who refuses to comply with these regulations and isn’t resident in the UK.

Failure to complete the form is also punishable by a £100 fixed penalty notice. 

Home Secretary Priti Patel said:

“As the world begins to emerge from what we hope is the worst of the coronavirus pandemic, we must look to the future and protect the British public by reducing the risk of cases crossing our border.

We are introducing these new measures now to keep the transmission rate down and prevent a devastating second wave.

I fully expect the majority of people will do the right thing and abide by these measures. But we will take enforcement action against the minority of people who endanger the safety of others.”

The new regime will be in place across the United Kingdom, although enforcement measures will be set individually by the Devolved Administrations.

Through the new online locator contact form all arriving passengers will need to provide details of their self-isolation accommodation. 

If this does not meet the necessary requirements – such as hotels, or with friends or family – they will be required to self-isolate in facilities arranged by the UK government.

There will be limited exemptions and a full list will be published on gov.uk. They include:

-road haulage and freight workers, to ensure the supply of goods is not impacted
-medical professionals who are travelling to help with the fight against coronavirus
-anyone moving from within the Common Travel Area, covering Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man
-Seasonal Agricultural Workers who will self-isolate on the property where they are working

Chief Executive Paul Everitt from the UK trade organisation ADS which represents the aerospace industry, said:

“Quarantining travellers will hold back the UK’s economic recovery. Key workers across our sectors must be provided with a route to secure exemptions and allow travel essential to our economic recovery.

The 14-day quarantine should be a time-limited measure that can be removed as soon as the evidence supports doing so, and an international approach should be taken to resuming flights as quickly as possible.

While the quarantine is operating, air bridges that allow controlled removal of the measure on selected routes have the potential to limit unnecessary disruption and I urge the Government to implement the process as quickly as possible.”