Quarantine Exemption for Business Travellers, Artists, Others Arriving in England Announced

Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps, arrives at Downing Street in London, on Nov. 10, 2020. Leon Neal/Getty Images

High-value business travellers, musicians, dancers, journalists, and recently signed elite sports persons will be exempt from quarantine when they arrive in England, the government announced on Thursday.

The move is designed to alleviate some pressure on the UK economy, which is facing the double whammy of Brexit and the crushing impact caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced on Twitter that these individuals would no longer need to self-isolate when travelling or returning to England from a country that’s not in a travel corridor from 4 a.m. on Saturday.

To be exempt from self-isolation, a business traveller has to be undertaking a “specific business activity which would deliver a significant benefit to the UK economy—including activity that creates or preserves 50+ UK jobs,” the government said.

In addition, the traveller can only meet with others if it is directly related to the specific business activity covered by the quarantine exemption.

Domestic and international performing arts professionals, TV production staff, journalists, and recently signed elite sports persons are also exempt from self-isolation so that “industries which require specific, high talent individuals who rely on international connections can continue to complete their work.”

All travellers, with a few exceptions, will be required to fill out a passenger locator form.

The government said that Public Health England do not anticipate the exemptions will cause a rise in the risk of domestic transmission, but it will be kept under review.

There are currently 76 countries, territories, or regions on England’s travel corridor list. Passengers from these destinations do not need to self-isolate upon arriving in England, unless they had been to somewhere not on the list within the 14 days prior to their arrival in England.

According to the government, this list is reviewed every week, with considerations of a range of factors including the continued increase of CCP virus cases within a country, the numbers of new cases, imported cases, information on a country’s testing capacity, testing regime, and test positivity rate.