UK Institutes Mandatory 14-Day Quarantine June 8, 2020

We got some clarity late on Friday about the planned mandatory quarantine for everyone arriving in the United Kingdom that had been talked about for weeks.

The UK has not closed its borders for incoming foreign travel as most other countries have, but there have been limitations what you can do once inside that are now being gradually relaxed.

You can access UK border control’s Covid-19 page here.

Incoming travelers outside of the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man must quarantine for 14 days upon arrival at their designated address, OR the UK will house you at your expense at one of the designated places (must be hotels).

Quarantine applies to all including UK nationals, residents as well as visitors regardless of travel method (air, boat, and train).

You are not supposed to use public transportation when getting to the address, such as a tube, taxi, or Uber. The police may periodically check that you are at the address and fine 1,000 GBP if you are not.

Here’s an excerpt from the BBC (access their piece here):

People arriving in the UK must self-isolate for 14 days from 8 June to help slow the spread of coronavirus, the government has said.

Travellers will need to tell the government where they will quarantine, with enforcement through random spot checks and £1,000 fines in England.

If a person does not have suitable accommodation to go to, they will be required to stay in “facilities arranged by the government” at the person’s own expense, according to Border Force chief Paul Lincoln.

According to the Home Office, the new policy will be in place across the UK, although how it is enforced in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will be determined by the devolved administrations.

Here’s information for the UK government:

Conclusion

This will effectively kill both incoming and outgoing travel to/from the UK until these measurements are lifted or relaxed. I am sure that British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Easyjet, Ryanair or UK hotels are not pleased.

Most of Europe has gradually started easing travel first within the EU/Schengen/various blocks and perhaps outside too at some point this late summer/early fall (read more here) while the UK is now restricting. Difficult to see how this makes any sense.

I am sure that Brits that have planned to spend some of their summer holidays this year in the Mediterranean are not pleased to visit the UK seaside towns instead: Bournemouth instead of Ibiza or Dover instead of Mallorca.

I have tickets from Japan to London on both JAL and ANA (read more here) for arrival in early June, beating this quarantine requirement. I am not sure yet what I will do.