LONDON – Britain, flooded by a variant of the coronavirus that spreads quickly and desperate to keep other mutations out of the country, tightened its travel restrictions on Wednesday, demanding that British citizens arriving from 22 high-risk countries stay quarantined in hotels for 10 days at their own expense.
The policy brings Britain closer to the strict hotel quarantines imposed by Australia and several Asian countries. But it falls short of a general requirement, generating criticism that it will not isolate the country from new dangerous variants, while incapacitating the already injured travel and aviation sectors.
“There are still many people entering and leaving our country every day,” said Priti Patel, the interior minister, in Parliament, announcing the new measures, which also aim to prevent the British from leaving the country.
“Going on vacation is not an exemption,” added Patel, noting that there were reports of people arriving at London’s St. Pancras station, carrying their skis, to board the Eurostar train en route to the ski resorts in the Alps.
For now, hotel quarantine restrictions will be limited to countries that are already considered high risk due to the emergence of variants, such as South Africa and Brazil, and other South American countries. But Patel said the government could expand the list to include other countries with a prevalence of new variants of the virus.
Under the new rules, arriving passengers would be taken from the airport to nearby hotels, where they would be forced to isolate themselves in their rooms for 10 days, on their own. With a few exceptions, non-British citizens from these 22 countries are already banned from traveling to Britain. Departing travelers must provide a reason for their trip and can be refused at the airport or train station.
Public health experts said the plan had many shortcomings, especially due to London’s status as an international center. “It will not be effective because people will only connect in other countries to avoid quarantine,” said Devi Sridhar, head of the global public health program at the University of Edinburgh.
The debate over the extent of the policy and whether it would include all those arriving in Britain divided Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s office. British newspapers reported that Patel was among the ministers who advocated going further, but was rejected by Johnson – a division that was raised by opposition parties.
In a tense discussion on Tuesday, Joanna Cherry, a legislator for the Scottish National Party, asked Mrs Patel why she had not acted so far, as she publicly acknowledged that it would have been a good idea to close the borders earlier.
“What stopped you?” Mrs. Cherry asked. “Was it her cabinet colleagues and, if so, why did she not resign and speak out, given the risk of greater transmission of people entering the country?
Britain’s new travel policy came on a day when the prime minister offered a provisional roadmap to step out of the third national blockade since the pandemic began last March, but made it clear that there would be no relaxation in February. Johnson warned that schools would not reopen until March 8 – and only if Britain controls hospital admissions and achieves its goal of vaccinating 15 million of the country’s most vulnerable people by mid-February.
This message was a disappointment to parents, who hoped schools could reopen after the semester break in February. And he stressed how dire the situation is in Britain, with more than 37,000 people in hospitals with Covid-19, almost double the number of patients during the first pandemic peak last spring.
Opposition leaders accused the government of sending contradictory messages – a recurring failure that they said was part of the reason why Britain had the highest death toll in Europe, with more than 100,000 deaths. On Wednesday, Britain reported an additional 1,725 deaths, making it the second most lethal day of the pandemic.
“Our schools are closed and our borders are open,” Labor Party leader Keir Starmer told Parliament, speaking on a video link from his home, where he was isolating himself, “and my biggest concern is that the Prime Minister minister has not yet learned the lessons of last year. I fear that as a result, we will see more tragedies and more dark landmarks. “
To help reopen schools, Starmer asked the government to use the February break to vaccinate teachers and school staff, before other candidates.
But the government says its priorities for the vaccine are determined by scientific advice, targeting the most vulnerable, many by age. The authorities argue that teachers are not at greater risk of dying from coronavirus than people in other occupations. Mr. Johnson challenged Mr. Starmer “to explain which vaccines he would get from which vulnerable groups to understand his policy”.
Although the quarantine rules were not as comprehensive as they could be, the travel industry has expressed alarm about the impact of increasing restrictions.
“The UK travel and tourism industry is struggling for survival,” said Gloria Guevara Manzo, executive director of the World Travel & Tourism Council, an industry organization, in a statement. “With the industry in such a fragile state, the introduction of hotel quarantines by the UK government could force the total collapse of travel and tourism.”
In a letter to Mr. Johnson, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, easyJet and other airlines called for more government assistance and warned that the country’s airlines “cannot survive a second summer season without significant revenue or additional support ”.
But Johnson’s plan for an off-route route suggests that there is little hope for a quick relaxation of restrictions. According to the schedule announced on Wednesday, the government will analyze the effectiveness of its vaccination campaign, as well as evidence of whether the blockade has reduced infections and hospitalizations.
Based on these results, Johnson said, the government will publish a detailed plan during the week of February 22, which can define when the government will lift restrictions – reopening everything from schools to pubs.
“This will be a schedule that will inevitably be subject to adjustments,” said Johnson. However, he called it “a roadmap that we can take together and use to defeat the virus”.