Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Office, what recent assessment her Department has made of the merits of the introduction of (a) covid-19 screening measures and (b) quarantine arrangements for passengers arriving at UK airports.

Our priority is to protect the public’s health, to contain the spread of the virus and prevent a second wave.

Since 8 June, rules have been in place for entering the UK because of COVID-19. The rules are for residents and visitors. Passengers need to provide journey and contact details when travelling to the UK and will not be allowed to leave the place they are staying for the first 14 days except in very limited situations (known as self-isolation).

Passengers arriving in the UK are required to self-isolate for 14 days and can be contacted throughout this period to ensure compliance.

Since 10 July travellers will not have to self-isolate if arriving and staying in England from a country or territory on the travel corridors list. Travellers will still have to provide journey and contact details. You can find the latest Travel Corridors list by following this link:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-travel-corridors.

Travellers will still be required to self-isolate if they have visited or stopped in any country which is not on the list in the previous 14 days.

A limited number of exemptions to the measures have been agreed. For example, those travelling in order to maintain essential supply chains, or our national infrastructure or who are contributing to the crisis response will not be required to self-isolate.

A full list of exemptions to the requirements to provide locator details or self-isolate can be found on GOV.UK at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-travellers-exempt-from-uk-border-rules/coronavirus-covid-19-travellers-exempt-from-uk-border-rules.

The need for the restrictions is regularly reviewed. The reviews are guided by the scientific advice and consider factors such as the domestic and international incidence of COVID-19, and the level of infection and transmission. The economic impact of the measures, and new initiatives being trialled to secure safe travel, are also considered during these reviews.