Yahoo Sports What are the coronavirus quarantine rules for travel into the UK, and what is an air bridge?
Still holding out for a holiday abroad this summer? If so, you might be disappointed to learn that as of Monday, [JUNE 8] anyone arriving into the UK will have to quarantine for two weeks to reduce the risk of spreading coronavirus.
This means even if you were able to escape for a one-week holiday in July, you’d need to stay at home for a further 14 days on your return.
Home Secretary Priti Patel recently laid out the new travel plans, despite the fact that at the moment the government’s advice is to avoid all but essential travel.
So how will the UK's quarantine work?
The quarantine rules apply to everyone arriving into the UK by plane, ferry or train, including Brits returning to the country. Road hauliers, farm workers and medical officials are exempt, but everyone else will be expected to self-isolate for 14 days.
New arrivals will be asked to fill in a form with their contact information, so officials can perform spot checks to ensure people are quarantining at the right address - and if you fail to isolate, or refuse, you could face a £1000 fine or even jail
Like early lockdown you’ll be allowed to leave your residence to buy essential food and medicine for your household, but otherwise it’s back to Netflix and Zoom meetings back home. The difference between early lockdown and now being that under current guidelines, people in England are allowed to meet with friends at a social distance and enjoy picnics and BBQs.
What’s an air bridge and how can it help?
A glimmer of hope for wannabe holidaymakers is that some European countries are discussing the creation of air bridges with the UK, which means allowing quarantine-free travel between two specific destinations.
Portugal has already said it will offer temperature checks at airports rather than a two-week quarantine for Brits, which Travel Supermarket says has resulted in a 38 per cent increase in searches for package holidays there this summer.
“Talk of air bridges and countries opening up to tourism appears to be getting people searching and comparing holiday prices”, explains spokesperson for TravelSupermarket Emma Coulthurst, which she says is seeing more people searching now for a holiday this summer than at the beginning of May.
“Holiday prices have also been creeping down in the last fortnight and there are some good prices on offer. However, the reality is that we don’t yet know when Brits will be able to travel again.”
Spain’s due to lift its two-week isolation rule for tourists on June 21 and Italy welcomed visitors from June 3, with no quarantines restrictions. Greece, which is set to accept tourists fully from July 1 when International flights resume at all its airports, will be Covid testing arrivals and expecting all tourists to quarantine for seven days.
However with no air bridges yet in place and FCO advice against anything but essential travel remaining in place, it’s a case of wait and see as to where we can travel to this summer. Fingers crossed!
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