THE UK Government is imposing new restrictions on international arrivals – but only from certain “red list” countries.
Boris Johnson announced the new measures in the House of Commons.
Travel from 22 countries which have been linked to new Covid-19 variants will be banned.
UK nationals and residents returning home from those countries will be required to isolate in special purpose accommodation for 10 days.
The Prime Minister told MPs: "I want to make clear that under the stay at home regulations, it is illegal to leave home to travel abroad for leisure purposes and we will enforce this at ports and airports by asking people why they are leaving and instructing them to return home if they do not have a valid reason to travel.
"We have also banned all travel from 22 countries where there is a risk of known variants including South Africa, Portugal and South American nations.
"And in order to reduce the risk posed by UK nationals and residents returning home from these countries, I can announce that we will require all such arrivals who cannot be refused entry to isolate in Government provided accommodation, such as hotels, for 10 days without exception.
"They will be met at the airport and transported directly into quarantine. The Department of Health and Social Care is working to establish these facilities as quickly as possible."
The Prime Minister did not reveal the list of destinations for which the new policy will apply, but a travel industry source told the PA news agency it will include all of South America, southern Africa and Portugal. Kenya, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates and Nigeria could also be added.
It is understood that airlines will be told to quiz people about their reason for travel before allowing them to board flights. Firms will face being fined if they fail to do this.
Setting out more details of the measures, Home Secretary Priti Patel said: "Despite the stay-at-home regulations we are still seeing people not complying with these rules.
"The rules are clear, people should be staying at home unless they have a valid reason to leave.
"Going on holiday is not a valid reason, so we will introduce a new requirement so that people wishing to travel must first make a declaration as to why they need to travel.
"This reason for travel will be checked by carriers prior to departure."
Airline bosses are demanding that the Government provides an "urgent road map for the reopening of air travel".
The chief executives of British Airways, easyJet and Virgin Atlantic were among those calling for the Government to publish a plan that "draws upon the tools available now to us, including testing, working in concert with vaccine rollout at home and internationally".
They added: "The time has now come for a bespoke support package that can get UK airlines through this crisis."
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon: UK hotel quarantine plan 'probably the least that can be done'
Speaking earlier at the Scottish Government briefing, Nicola Sturgeon said the UK Government’s proposals for quarantine hotels are “probably the least that could be done”.
The First Minister indicated she would continue calling on UK ministers to strengthen the proposals – but if that does not happen the Scottish Government will consider going further themselves.
Acknowledging that the UK “perhaps should have done more" on borders during 2020, Sturgeon said: “I think I do have a duty at this point to say that I am concerned that the proposal does not go far enough and I’ve made that point very strongly in the four-nations discussions that we’ve just had today.
“So while the Scottish Government will initially emulate the UK Government’s steps on enhancing quarantine arrangements, we will be seeking urgently to persuade them to go much further, and indeed to move to a comprehensive system of supervised quarantine.
“Given the obvious practical issues involved, we are very clear that our preference is to have consistent quarantine rules across the UK, but if there is no agreement to go further on a four-nations basis, we will be considering going further ourselves and we will set out any such additional measures next week.”
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