People travelling to the UK will be quarantined for two weeks upon arrival as part of measures to prevent a second peak of the coronavirus pandemic.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to announce the plans on Sunday as he presents his roadmap out of the lockdown.
He is to announce the introduction of quarantine measures for people arriving in airports, as well as ports and |Eurostar train stations.
People from Britain who are returning from abroad will also be quarantined.
A report in the Times suggests people will be asked to provide the address at which they will self-isolate for two weeks on arrival through a digital form.
But now, a trade body has warned that the proposed measures could have a devastating impact on both the aviation industry and the wider economy.
Airport Operators Association (AOA) chief executive Karen Dee said she has not received any details yet about the plans.
Ms Dee said: “Quarantine would not only have a devastating impact on the UK aviation industry, but also on the wider economy.
“If the Government believe quarantine is medically necessary, then it should be applied on a selective basis following the science, there should be a clear exit strategy and the economic impact on key sectors should be mitigated.
“The Government should commit to a weekly review of the quarantine measures and publish the evidence that informs the review’s outcome.
The new measures are expected to be introduced in June, and it is understood that travellers from the Channel Islands, Ireland and the Isle of Man will be exempt, as well as key workers and lorry drivers.
READ MORE: 8,000 a week still arriving in Scotland – and not one is tested for Covid-19
Shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy was asked about the 14-day quarantine for people flying into the UK on Saturday morning's BBC Breakfast.
She said “It’s something that we’ve been asking ministers to clarify for weeks now.
“At the moment we’ve got a lot of Britons who are still stranded abroad.
READ MORE: Scots businessman trapped in Peru gets home and is surprised by lack of corona checks
“People have been brought back in relatively large numbers and many of them are telling us that they have no information or advice given out about what they should be doing when they get home.
“They travel back from the airport on public transport, they go back to their families and they’re worried that they’re putting their families and other members of the public at risk, and some of them are coming from parts of the country where we are seeing an increase in infection rates, and so they’re really worried about it, the wider public are really worried about it, and for weeks we’ve had mixed messages being briefed out of government.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel