The United Kingdom on Sunday announced mandatory quarantine for all arrivals in hotels and new COVID-19 restrictions, which will come into force in the coming hours, reported PTI.

After the government discarded “travel
corridors” from countries with lower caseloads following the rise of new
coronavirus strains, all passengers to the UK have to present negative tests for
COVID-19 along with the isolation from Monday at 09.30 am.

The Sunday
Times said that the government had decided to follow countries, including
Australia and New Zealand, who have already made self-isolation in hotels mandatory
for passengers at their own expense, using GPS and facial-recognition
technology to monitor they do not move elsewhere, reported PTI.

“There is a challenge of its workability, its deliverability, but
we need to look at that very carefully based on the experience of other
countries,” Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told BBC television. “There
will be checks at home, there will be checks at the border. I think that is the
most effective measure that we can take at this point in time. Obviously we’ll
keep other potential measures under review. But they’ve got to be workable”,
he added.

Also read: New UK coronavirus strain has spread to 50 countries, South African variant found in 20 nations: WHO

The decision came after Britain prohibited all arrivals from South
America and Portugal on Friday over fears of contracting a new coronavirus
variant from Brazil.

However, critics say that many passengers have been defying the
quarantine rules already but still the choice to choose the place for
self-isolation is up to the passengers.

Britain is under tough lockdown restrictions due to the surge in virus cases, where people are only allowed to go out for work, exercise and
childcare, otherwise they stay at their homes. Meanwhile, on Saturday, 1,295 deaths due to COVID-19 were reported, third highest daily total since the
pandemic.