Travellers who break Britain’s COVID-19 quarantine rules will face fines and jail terms of up to 10 years, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Tuesday.
“We’ll be backing this new system with strong enforcement of both home quarantine and hotel quarantine,” he said. “People who flout these rules are putting us all at risk.”
There will be a £1,000 ($1,378) penalty for any international arrival who fails to take a mandatory test.
Anyone who fails to take the second mandatory test will be fined £2,000 ($2,756) and have their quarantine period automatically extended to 14 days.
International arrivals who fail to quarantine in a designated hotel will face a £5,000 ($6,891) fine, rising to £10,000 ($13,782).
The government will be “coming down hard” on people who provide false information on the passenger locator form, Hancock said.
“Anyone who lies on a passenger locator form, and tries to conceal that they’ve been in a country on our red list in the 10 days before arrival here, will face a prison sentence of up to 10 years.”
He urged Hancock to “force the prime minister to fix this hole in the nation’s defences and make our borders stronger against further variants.”
The government was criticised from some who think the quarantine measures are draconian.
Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, said on Twitter: “This is out of control. 10 years in prison for a lie goes too far, we must resist this tyranny.”