The UK Government Minister in charge of Health, has finally announced the headlines of the new Mandatory Quarantine for passengers arriving from 33 red-list countries. In addition, there are additional penalties for those flouting quarantine, including for the first time a prison sentence for failing to comply.

These apply from Monday 15 February 2021. Abolition of the 5 day. Test and Release Scheme was not confirmed.

Highlights include:

• All arrivals, from a red-list country or not will be required to take tests on day 2 and day 8 after arrival.
• A positive test from either mentioned above triggers a further 10 day quarantine
• The charge for those coming from a red-list country, including hotel, transport and testing will be £1,750 per person. This is much larger than the amounts previously suggested/leaked.
• 4,600 hotel rooms in 16 hotels have been contracted. No details of which have been announced yet.
• Penalties are to be increased also:

  •  For people who do not comply with quarantine rules:

    • £1,000 fine for any international arrival who fails to take a mandatory coronavirus test
    • £2,000 fine for failing to take a second test and quarantine is automatically extended to 14 days
    • Fines of between £5,000 and £10,000 for failing to quarantine in a designated hotel
    • Anyone who lies on their passenger locator form about having been in a country on the red list will face a prison sentence of up to 10 years