The government’s snap judgement on travel quarantine rules will only invite more chaos

Editorial: At the very least, it could give slightly more notice of its intentions so people can make better-advised plans

Few travellers seem to be asked to say where they will be for the next 14 days (PA)

It is like a malign game of bingo. Under effective house arrest for months, travellers heard the optimistic noises coming from the tourism industry and ministers and took the opportunity to book a break.

Now, though, they are having to look nervously at their smartphones and iPads to see whether their number is up, and they have to hurry home before compulsory quarantine on return kicks in; or forget about going in the first place.

Unlike bingo, the choices are not entirely random and are determined by the state of coronavirus control (even where it may be superior to Britain’s). Thus Belgium, the Bahamas and the niche destination of Andorra find themselves on the compulsory quarantine list, joining Spain, Luxembourg and Portugal. Chancellor Rishi Sunak, acting as a kind of anti-tour guide, stresses that there’s always a risk with holidays, amid concerns that France could be next to join the quarantine list.

The rational response to all of this is obvious; write off 2020 and try and have some time away within the UK. The problem with that has become even more obvious as some welcome hot weather arrives – hugely crowded beaches and Cornwall under virtual occupation. What might in any normal year be welcomed by publicans, restaurateurs and local authorities is being viewed, rightly, as a public health disaster.

It is a dynamic situation and not even Grant Shapps or Boris Johnson can be blamed for an outbreak of Covid-19 in Catalonia or Brussels. What they could do, however, is give slightly more notice of their intentions, to enable people to make better-advised plans; it might conceivably calm some nerves and stabilise a febrile mood.

More than that, though, ministers and the relevant advisers on Sage would be well advised to look again at the very concept of the quarantine “rules”. There must be some suspicion that the whole thing is a charade. Few travellers seem to be asked to say where they will be for the next 14 days, and perhaps very few stick closely to the basic “stay inside” guidance. There is no policing of the system and there have been no prosecutions for breaking the rules. With the Cummings Effect now operational, the entire quarantine exercise looks like it is just for show.

Covid-19 testing, on entry and a week later, has been suggested by the travel industry as a better balance between public health and personal freedoms. It has the great advantage of actually catching some incoming cases, and giving others some conditional early reassurance. It also offers an incentive for returning holidaymakers to act responsibly for a shorter time with a free test. Real addresses should be requested, adding to control of the situation. There would be flaws in this approach too, no doubt, but rather fewer than a quarantine system increasingly falling into disrepute. There is a better route out of this particular mess.