Covid news from Britain - 27 January, 2021

 Anyone trying to leave the UK will have to declare they have a valid reason

Priti Patel announced the drastic new Covid restriction to crack down on people who are still leaving the country for holidays despite the national lockdown

the Sun,

27 January, 2021

Anyone trying to leave the UK will now have to declare they have a valid reason - or risk being fined or sent home from an airport.

Home Secretary Priti Patel announced the crackdown today as she hit out at the minority of Brits who are continuing to go on holiday during lockdown.

She said people will have to declare their reason in advance to the airline or carrier they book with.

There will be more police at ports and airports - and people without a valid reason for travel will be sent home or fined for breaching lockdown.

But she did not give any detail on when the restriction will come into force, or give a full list of valid reasons.

She said airlines and carriers will now have liability for checking travellers - and will face fines themselves if they do not comply.

People in England are currently banned from staying overnight away from home unless they have a reasonable excuse under the national lockdown. Those who break the rules face £200 fines for a first offence.

That means foreign travel from England is effectively illegal unless it is for certain purposes such as work or medical care.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland also have their own separate Covid restrictions with their own levels of fines.

Ms Patel announced today: “For those travelling out of the UK we will also be enhancing and stepping up enforcement rules.

Brits returning to the UK from high-risk coronavirus hotspots will be forced to quarantine in hotels to limit the spread of new variants, Boris Johnson confirmed today.

The Prime Minister finally announced the policy almost a year to the day after the first Covid-19 cases were discovered in the UK.

But Home Secretary Priti Patel gave no date for when the changes will come in - instead saying the Department for Health will "set out further details on this approach next week". She said discussions with hotel chains were still "under way".

There was also initial confusion about how many countries were affected. Boris Johnson said the restrictions would apply to people who had been in 22 countries, but the government later said 30 are affected.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/breaking-uk-hotel-quarantine-confirmed-23390378