Hotel quarantine could end, says Boris Johnson

‘We will be looking at the red list and the way that we do it,’ says PM

Red alert: the queue for hotel quarantine at London Heathrow Airport (Simon Calder)

The prime minister has said that hotel quarantine could be replaced by self-isolation at home.

At Wednesday’s Downing Street news conference, a member of the public – Rachel from Essex – asked: “Why can’t fully vaccinated British travellers stuck in red listed countries self-isolate at home when they return instead of a hotel?

“Quarantine hotels are too expensive especially as this was implemented at short notice, not giving travellers a chance to get home,” she said.

Boris Johnson responded: “I think that’s a very fair challenge, given the way omicron’s now seeded around the world and not just in red listed countries, we will be looking at the red list and the way that we do it.”

The prime minister added: “It’s been very important in the immediate period, the immediate response to omicron, to have very tough border measures to slow the arrival of the variant in this country.

“That was the objective of those measures and continues to be the objective.”

The Independent has repeatedly asked the Department of Health and Social Care for more details of what is being considered, but has yet to receive a response.

Arrivals from 11 African countries to the UK must pay up to £2,285 per person for 11 nights in a quarantine hotel. The cost includes three meals per day and two PCR tests.

The “Managed Quarantine Service”, as it is officially known, has been widely criticised for offering poor service at very high prices.

On Wednesday evening, the health secretary, Sajid Javid, held out the prospect that the red list could end – alongside all other travel restrictions. But he warned: “It is just not possible to give a guarantee for any particular country that there will not potentially be any future measures.”

Julia Lo Bue-Said, chief executive of Advantage Travel Partnership, called for a swift end to hotel quarantine: “Given the way omicron has seeded around the country and the world, what is the point of harsh and now unnecessary travel restrictions on British travellers?”

The red list was revived on 25 November in response to concerns about the omicron variant, and has steadily increased.

The current members are Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa Zambia and Zimbabwe.