Covid: Hotel quarantine comes into force in UK

London, Feb 15 : All British and Irish citizens and UK residents who arrive in England after being in a high-risk Covid country now have to quarantine in hotels, officials said.
The “red list” of 33 countries includes Portugal, Brazil and South Africa. The new regulations, which aim to stop Covid-19 variants entering the country, apply to arrivals who have been in one of those places in the past 10 days, the BBC reported on Monday.
They will have to pre-book and pay 1,750 pounds to spend 10 days quarantining in the government-sanctioned hotels.
That covers the cost of the hotel, transport and testing.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the emergence of new variants meant the government “must go further” with its travel restrictions.
The government says it has struck deals with 16 hotels so far, providing 4,963 rooms for the new quarantine system, with a further 58,000 rooms currently on standby.