We are introducing tough new measures and enforcement rules for people travelling to the UK to prevent importing new variants from abroad.
- Currently, passengers coming into the UK from anywhere in the world are required to present a negative test result and quarantine for 10 days on arrival as well as completing a Passenger Locator Form, with enforcement checks by Border Force and the police.
- But from Monday we are going further: all UK arrivals will undergo enhanced testing, on top of the negative test required before departure, and arrivals from a country on our travel ban list will need to purchase a quarantine package and isolate in an approved hotel for 10 days.
- New, enhanced penalties for those who fail to follow the rules or lie about where they’ve been of up to £10,000 or 10 years in prison will ensure people comply. These measures will ensure people who need to enter the country don’t present a risk to others, safeguarding the progress we have made and strengthening our protection against new variants from abroad.
New figures show that than 9 in 10 local authorities across England have now signed up to our community testing programme and are providing rapid tests for people who cannot work from home – breaking chains of transmission and helping us slow the spread of this deadly virus.
- Since the community testing programme was launched in December, local authorities have undertaken incredibly innovative work to rapidly get programmes up and running in local areas, using their local expertise.
- 232 local authorities are now rolling out community testing, covering a population of around 42 million people and identifying thousands of positive cases in people not showing symptoms, who could be unknowingly spreading the virus. Over 2.2 million rapid-turnaround tests have been carried out by councils already, which has identified 44,000 cases – breaking thousands of chains of transmission.
- Local authorities have done a heroic job on the frontline during the pandemic, supported by more than £8 billion in extra funding, and we will continue to give them the support they need to deliver for their communities, keep people safe and help defeat this virus.