The UK has ended the quarantine system after ministers were forced to act due to public pressure. The Department of Health and Social Care issued this order in a letter addressed to those under quarantine rules.
Travelers who were quarantined in hotels were informed to leave the premises by 4 pm today. The order in the letter “explains that individuals who have tested positive for Covid-19 will be required by law to complete their quarantined and unvaccinated guests who have been notified of being in contact with someone who tested positive must also remain”.
The letter also reads, “For everyone who wants to leave quarantine, I can confirm that you will be leaving today.” It also said that “To secure this, we need to make changes to the legal regulations that state your stay in quarantine can be transferred to home isolation […] We expect to be able to begin departures from 4 pm today when you will also be given clear instructions on the requirements of home isolation” [Source].
The UK was one of the first European countries to put a red list on Southern African countries to curb the spread of omicron. But by 4 am, the red list was emptied with all nations scrapped off. Without a red list, travelers coming from Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Nigeria will not be quarantined in a managed quarantine facility. But they have to take a Day 2 test and self-isolate at home until they test negative.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps confirmed on his Twitter account that people staying in government-run hotels would be released, but those who tested positive will remain behind [Source]. Shapps added that all the testing requirements remain, especially outside countries.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid announced to remove African countries from the quarantine category in parliament. The countries removed on Britain’s red list include South Africa, Nigeria, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, and Angola.
The UK implemented new testing rules for UK arrivals which stipulated that “all arrivals must now show a negative pre-departure PCR or lateral flow test that was taken within 48 hours of arriving. This is in addition to a day 2 PCR test, which both UK citizens and visitors must await the results of in isolation”. But these rules vary for traveling individuals who are not vaccinated. According to Shapps, these new rules will be reviewed in the first week of January, which means that more restrictions might be put in place, especially if positive cases keep on increasing.
He said, “As always, we keep all our travel measures under review, and we may impose new restrictions should there be a need to do so to protect public health.”
The British are witnessing a surge in omicron cases, which prompted the French to ban all travelers moving from the UK for leisure or work purposes. This rule applies to both vaccinated and unvaccinated people. Mark Tanzer, chief executive of the Association of British Travel Agents, was not pleased with the French’s decision and said, “This will come as a hammer blow to the winter travel industry, which is already under extreme pressure following the new Omicron restrictions. The winter sports and school travel markets are particularly exposed, and the government must now bring forward a support package if we are not to see company failure and job losses” [Source].
In defending its stance of removing the red list, the UK government noted that “now there is community transmission of the Omicron variant in the UK and Omicron has spread so widely across the world, the travel Red List is now less effective in slowing the incursion of Omicron from abroad.”
The government backed down on imposing a hotel quarantine. It announced that “Passengers who booked a hotel room in managed quarantine for after 4 am Wednesday 15 December are entitled to a full refund and should contact their hotel operator or booking operator”. The government said to those affected individuals who need to stay quarantined in hotels, “We will set out further guidance for the affected individuals imminently.”
