Covid-19: Hotel quarantine guests allowed to leave with refunds after travel rule changes
People confined to quarantine hotels in England have been allowed to leave this afternoon, on the condition of a negative Covid test, after the UK government removed all 11 countries from its travel red list yesterday, according to widespread reports.
In a letter from the Department for Health, hotel guests were told they would be given specific time slots, organised by floors, during which they could leave the government-approved facilities from 4pm today.
Guests will be refunded for any days they have not yet used, Health Secretary Sajid Javid told the BBC.
They were however also told that they could not leave until they were formally told otherwise.
People who tested positive, or are unvaccinated and have been in contact with someone who has tested positive, would also be forced to continue to stay inside the hotels.
The move follows reports of some people confined to quarantine hotels already having left the premises after the change of rules was announced.
The UK Government confirmed that it would scrap the travel red list – which included South Africa and Botswana – from today, less than two weeks after it was introduced following concerns over the new Omicron variant.
While Airlines UK’s chief executive Tim Alderslade agreed that the move made sense, he said: “If the red list isn’t necessary given that omicron is established here at home, then neither are the costly emergency testing and isolation measures imposed on even fully vaccinated travellers, which again put us completely at odds with the rest of Europe,” he said. “It is testing that is the deterrent to travel, not the relatively limited red list.”
Frustration with the hotel quarantine system had already been brewing, with one London-based couple going so far as to launch a legal challenge last week arguing that forced Covid quarantine in hotels breaches human rights.