UK to start mandatory hotel quarantine mid-February amid criticism of delay

LONDON (AP) — Everyone arriving in the U.K. from countries identified as coronavirus hotspots will have to spend 10 days in hotel quarantine starting Feb. 15 in a bid to stop new virus variants reaching the country, the government said Friday.

But authorities are facing criticism for delays in implementing the policy, which was first announced in late January.

Under the plan, British citizens and residents returning from high-risk countries will have to quarantine in approved hotels near airports and sea ports, patrolled by security guards, and will be billed for their stay.

International travel is already restricted under current restrictions to curb the spread of the virus, with Britons barred from taking foreign holidays.

People arriving from overseas are already required to show a negative coronavirus test and self-isolate in Britain, but enforcement is patchy.

The U.K. says it has sought advice from Australia and New Zealand, where quarantine hotels have been used to contain COVID-19.

The main opposition Labour Party said it was “beyond comprehension” that the policy was only being introduced 50 days after a new, more transmissible strain of the virus from South Africa was first identified.

Labour borders spokesman Nick Thomas-Symonds said the government was doing “too little, too late.”

Britain has experienced Europe’s worst coronavirus outbreak with more than 110,000 confirmed deaths.

It also has one of the world’s fastest-moving vaccination campaigns. So far almost 10.5 million people, 20% of all adults, have received the first of two doses of a vaccine.

The U.K. government announced Friday that it plans to work with German biopharmaceutical firm CureVac to develop vaccines targeting emerging variants of COVID-19.

Public health officials around the world are concerned about new virus strains that may be more contagious or resistant to existing vaccines.

The British government aims to give a shot to 15 million people by Feb. 15, including everyone over 70 and those with underlying health conditions.

The government announced Friday that everyone in the U.K. over 50 should have received at least one dose by May.

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