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Arrivals in Britain face hefty quarantine bill

From Monday, travellers arriving in Britain from 33 'red list' countries will have to go into quarantine.

From Monday, travellers arriving in Britain from 33 'red list' countries will have to go into quarantine. Photo: Getty

Arriving travellers put in British quarantine hotels will be charged £1750 ($A3125) for their stay, Health Secretary Matt Hancock says.

Passengers arriving into England face fines of up to £10,000 for failing to quarantine, and those who lie on their passenger locator forms face up to 10 years in jail.

British nationals or residents returning to England from 33 “red list” countries will be required to spend 10 days in a government-designated hotel.

The Scottish government said this approach was “not sufficient”, and it has required all international travellers arriving into Scotland to stay in a quarantine hotel.

No international flights are operating to Wales or Northern Ireland.

Mr Hancock indicated the measures might be in place until the autumn if vaccine booster jabs were needed in response to coronavirus variants.

He told parliament that 16 hotels had been contracted to provide 4600 rooms for the quarantine program, which begins on Monday.

Anyone who attempted to conceal that they had been in a “red list” destination in the 10 days before arrival faced a prison sentence of up to 10 years, Mr Hancock said.

He also confirmed a new “enhanced testing” regime for all international travellers, with two tests required during the quarantine process from Monday.

Those who fail to take a test face a £1000 fine, followed by a £2000 penalty and an extension to their quarantine period, to 14 days, if they miss the second test.

“I make no apologies for the strength of these measures because we’re dealing with one of the strongest threats to our public health that we’ve faced as a nation,” Mr Hancock told the House of Commons on Tuesday.

-AAP

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