Covid: UK travel corridors closure to come into force

All UK travel corridors which allow arrivals from some countries to avoid having to quarantine will close from 04:00 GMT on Monday.

Travellers arriving in the UK, whether by boat, train or plane, will also have to show proof of a negative Covid-19 test to be allowed entry.

The test must be taken in the 72 hours before travelling and anyone arriving without one faces a fine of up to £500.

All passengers will still be required to quarantine for up to 10 days.

The isolation period can be cut short with a negative test after five days.

The government has said the travel corridor closure will be in force until at least 15 February.

Under the new rules, travellers arriving from the Falklands, St Helena and Ascension Islands are exempt.

Those arriving from some Caribbean islands are exempt until 04.00 GMT on Thursday 21 January.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told the BBC'S Andrew Marr Show on Sunday that Public Health England would be stepping up checks on travellers who must self-isolate.

He said enforcement checks at borders would also be "ramped up" and added that asking all arrivals to self-isolate in hotels was a "potential measure" the government was keeping under review.

Earlier, the government announced that a financial support scheme for airports in England would open this month in response to the new travel curbs coming in on Monday.

Aviation minister Robert Courts said the aim was to provide grants of up to £8m per applicant by the end of this financial year.

Industry groups have warned there was only so long airports could "run on fumes", following the announcement of the new quarantine rules.

In a tweet, Courts said the Airport and Ground Operations Support Scheme "will help airports reduce" additional costs faced due to the pandemic and that further details would follow soon.

The scheme was first announced in November but without a start date.

In a statement at the time, the Airport Operators Association said the scheme would be a relief. However, it said support equivalent to business rates would only go so far and with the pandemic crisis deepening, a broader package of support was needed for all four nations, to see the sector through the next few months.

AOA chief executive Karen Dee said the measures would "provide much-needed support to many embattled airports, helping them through the challenging months ahead".

A ban on travellers from South America, Portugal and Cape Verde also came into force on Friday, having been imposed over concerns about a new variant identified in Brazil.

New variants causing concern have previously been identified in the UK and South Africa, with many countries imposing restrictions on arrivals from both nations.

Scientists fear the variants seen in South Africa and Brazil may interfere with the effectiveness of vaccines and evade parts of the immune system.

The travel industry has said closing the travel corridors was understandable due to the health emergency, but warned it would deepen the crisis for the sector.

Tim Alderslade, chief executive of Airlines UK, said the system had been "a lifeline for the industry" last summer but "things change and there's no doubting this is a serious health emergency". He said he assumed the government would remove the latest restrictions as soon as it was safe.

"We've had no revenue now effectively for 12 months, give or take a few months in the summer last year. If we're going to have an aviation sector coming out of this we need to open up in the summer," he told the BBC.

The Department for Transport has said it is supporting the travel industry with an extension to the furlough scheme until the end of April, business rates relief and tax deferrals.

With all parts of the UK under strict virus rules amid high levels of infection, only essential travel is permitted.

On Sunday, another 671 deaths within 28 days of a positive Covid test were reported in the UK and a further 38,598 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus.

(Source: BBC)