Matt Hancock said British and Irish residents are returning Coronavirus Hotspots that violate new travel restrictions face fines of up to £ 10,000 and prison sentences.
Those who must be quarantined in hotels on their return from the 33 Red List countries will have to pay £ 1,750 to cover accommodation, travel and testing costs.
The Minister of Health announced the new rules in Commons, including new fines for international arrivals who fail the Covid-19 tests.
He said, “People who break these rules put us all at risk.
“Passenger planes will be required by law to ensure that passengers are signed up for these new arrangements prior to travel and will be fined for failing to do so, and we will impose heavy fines on those who fail to comply.
This includes a £ 1,000 fine for any international arrival not taking the mandatory test, a £ 2,000 fine for every international arrival not taking the second mandatory test, an automatic quarantine extension to 14 days and a Fixed Criminal Notice from £ 5,000 – up to £ 10,000 – for arrivals that are not quarantined at a specific hotel. ”
He added: “Anyone who lies on the passenger search form and tries to hide the fact that they were on the Red List in the 10 days prior to their arrival in a country will face a prison sentence of up to 10 years . ”
Said the measures will go into effect this week and more resources will be available to enforce them, Mr Hancock added, “I do not apologize for the strength of these measures as we face one of the most serious threats to ours public health that we face as a nation. ”
Matt Hancock said tests must be booked before passengers travel.
He said, “We are stepping up the tests. All passengers are required to take a test before departure and cannot travel to this country if (the test) is positive.
“From Monday, all international arrivals, whether under house quarantine or hotel quarantine, must carry out further PCR tests on the second and eighth day of this quarantine.
“Passengers must book these tests through our online booking portal before they travel. If you want to travel to Great Britain on Monday, you have to book these tests. The online portal will go online on Thursday.
“If any of these tests are positive upon arrival, they will have to be quarantined for an additional 10 days from the date of the test and of course they will receive the necessary NHS treatment.
“Every positive test is automatically genome sequenced to confirm whether there is a questionable variant.”
