The UK papers are alive with a comment made by a Government Minister that they are considering forcing everyone arriving in the UK in to a ten day quarantine at the travellers expense.
Hotels will be chosen by the Government and facial recognition technology will be used to enforce their stay. The proposal seems to be dubbed ‘Directed Isolation’ and is based on the model used by Australia and New Zealand. I suspect they won’t choose the 5* Sofitel at Heathrow, but rather the IBIS and cheaper counterparts.
Based on the model elsewhere food is delivered to your room.
Very few details are available at the moment, but it is not proposed to be retroactive, so just new arrivals are impacted. Ministers discussed the plans last Thursday. The scheme as described in the UK media suggests that the ability to test negative after 5 days and then be released will be abolished and that everyone will have to stay in their hotels for the 10 days.
This would, of course, have the benefit of pumping some money in to the hotel sector which has been badly hit again by the current UK restrictions on travel. Of course, what it would do in terms of numbers of passengers arriving has yet to be determined. It won’t make the UK a very friendly place to visit. Of course, the ability to earn status credits or points is not mentioned !
I guess this kills mileage runs to London?
IMO this is something for screwed-up countries like Australia but not for the UK which is still a free country for what its worth. Forced quarantine sounds good on paper but it ignores the fact that some people are smokers who like to step outside for a smoke; some people may require medical attention. What happens if someone with a mental health condition (something the UK government puts increased focus on) suffers from a claustrophobia-induced panic attack confined in the hotel room but isn’t allowed to go for a walk? There has to be another way.
@Dave yes there is another way. It’s called choosing not to travel, which is a hardship for me and many others with family far away, but we do it for the greater good. The smokers are the least of my concerns.