From midnight tonight, 8th June, people arriving in the UK will have to self-isolate for 14 days under new rules introduced to stop the spread of COVID-19.
Outlining the government’s plans, Home Secretary Priti Patel said: “The transmission rate in the UK continues to decline and international travel is likely to resume from its record low. Therefore the scientific advice is that imported cases of the virus pose a more significant threat to our national effort.
“Travellers from overseas could become a higher proportion of the overall number of infections in the UK and increase the spread of the disease.
“The government is acting now by taking a proportionate and time-limited approach to protect the health of the British people.”
Only people working in specific cross-border jobs, such as lorry drivers, will be exempt from the measure.
What are the new quarantine rules for entering the UK?
The new quarantine rules for entering the UK will be enforced from Monday June 8 and state that if you are a British resident or visitor travelling to the UK from aboard you must quarantine for two weeks after arriving in the UK.
The rules apply to passengers arriving in the UK by plane, ferry or train and require arrivals to provide their onward journey and contact details for the duration of their stay in the UK.
Arrivals to the UK must not leave the place they have told Border Force they are staying for the first 14 days of their stay in the UK and if the rules are broken, then people could be fined.
Once the rules come into place you may be fined £100 if you refuse to provide your contact details in England and £1,000 if you refuse to self-isolate in England.
The quarantine rules do not apply to anyone travelling to England from Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man.
There is also a long list of people who are exempt from the new travel restrictions:
- Travellers from within the Common Travel Area (Ireland, Isle of Man and Channel Islands)
- Members of diplomatic missions and consular posts in the UK, officers, servants or representatives of international organisations, representatives at an international or UK conference granted privileges and immunities, and their families or dependents
- Representatives of a foreign country or territory and representatives of the British overseas territories, along with their families or dependents travelling to the UK to undertake official business with the UK
- Defence personnel, visiting forces and government contractors who the Ministry of Defence has confirmed are required to deliver essential defence activities
- UK officials and contractors required to work on essential border security duties
- Non-UK officials and contractors required to work on essential border security duties
- Crown servants or government contractors travelling to the UK for essential government work
- People who live in the UK but work in another country and travel between the UK and country of work at least once a week
- People who live outside the UK but work in the UK and travel between their country of residence and the UK at least once a week
- Drivers of goods vehicles or public service vehicles and other employees of community licence holders for the international carriage of goods or passengers by coach and bus
- People transiting airside (individuals who arrive in the UK but do not pass border control)
- Civil aviation inspectors engaged on inspection duties
- Eurotunnel train drivers and crew, Eurotunnel Shuttle drivers, freight train drivers, crew and essential cross-border rail freight workers operating through the Channel Tunnel
- Drivers and crew of trains operated by Eurostar International Limited, essential cross-border workers working for Eurostar International Limited
- Operational, rail maintenance, security and safety workers working on the Channel Tunnel system
- Workers engaged in essential or emergency works to the rail network as part of a specialist team with or for Network Rail
- Seamen and masters as defined in section 313(1) Merchant Shipping Act 1995, maritime pilots as defined in para 22(1) of schedule 3A of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995, and inspectors and surveyors of ships appointed under section 256 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995
- Pilots, as defined in paragraph 22(1) of Schedule 3A to the Merchant Shipping Act
- Inspectors or surveyors of ships
- Pilots and crew, as defined in paragraph 1 of Schedule 1 to the Air Navigation Order 2016(h), where such crew have travelled to the UK in the course of their work
- Seasonal agricultural workers who have an offer of employment for seasonal work to carry out specific activities in edible horticulture on a named farm
- Workers engaged in essential or emergency works, related to water supplies and sewerage services
- Workers with specialist technical skills for essential or emergency works or services (including commissioning, maintenance, and repairs and safety checks) to ensure the continued production, supply, movement, manufacture, storage or preservation of goods
- Workers with specialist technical skills required for essential or emergency works (including commissioning, maintenance, repairs and safety checks) or to fulfil contractual obligations or warranty specifications in, or in connection with, waste management facilities used for the management, sorting, treatment, recovery, or disposal of waste (including energy from waste)
- Workers with specialist technical skills required for essential or emergency works to ensure the continued safe and secure operations of generating stations, gas or electricity transmission or distribution networks, electricity interconnectors, gas terminals or district or communal heat networks
- Workers required for the continued safe and secure operation, maintenance and essential support services for offshore oil and gas infrastructure in the UK
- Workers with specialist technical skills required for essential or emergency works to ensure the continued safe and secure operations of space infrastructure
- Nuclear personnel who are essential to the safe and secure operations of a licensed nuclear site Nuclear emergency responder
- International nuclear safeguards and chemical industry inspectors, representing the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Euratom
- Specialist aerospace engineers, or specialist workers responsible for ensuring the safe operation of aircraft.
- Workers with specialist technical skills required for essential or emergency works to ensure the continued safe and secure operations of a downstream oil facility that has a capacity in excess of 20,000 tonnes
- Postal workers involved in the transport of mail into and out of the UK
- Individuals arriving to attend pre-arranged treatment, when receiving that treatment in the UK
- Registered health or care professionals travelling to the UK to provide essential healthcare, including where this is not related to coronavirus
- If you’ve travelled to the UK for the purpose of transporting, to a healthcare provider in the UK, material which consists of, or includes, human cells or blood which are to be used for the purpose of providing healthcare
- Qualified persons and responsible persons for human and veterinary medicines, clinical trials, clinical investigations and pharmacovigilance
- Quality assurance inspectors for human and veterinary medicines
- Sponsors and essential persons needed for clinical trials or studies
- People involved in essential maintenance and repair of data infrastructure required to reduce and resolve outages, or in the provision of goods and services to support these activities
- Information technology or telecommunications professionals whose expertise is required to provide an essential or emergency response to threats and incidents relating to the security of any network and information system and ensure the continued operation of any network and information system
- People engaged in urgent or essential work on electronic communications networks
- People engaged in urgent or essential work for the BBC’s broadcasting transmission network and services
- International prison escorts, designated by the relevant Minister under section 5(3) of the Repatriation of Prisoners Act 1984(a)
Anyone appearing on the exempt list should check out the full rules that will apply to them on the Gov.UK website.
There is no current date set for when the quarantine measures will be lifted.
