Some of the first guests to check into the UK’s Covid-19 quarantine hotels have expressed their discontent at the new tough border policy – with the £1,750 cost and a lack of anything to do at the top of a list of early complaints.
UK and Irish nationals and UK residents returning to England from one of the government’s 33 “red list” countries – which covers Portugal, the United Arab Emirates, South America and southern Africa – in the past 10 days must now self-isolate in hotels.
The rule applies to people returning to Scotland from any destination.
One traveller quarantining at the Radisson Blu Edwardian hotel near Heathrow Airport said he was “feeling sad” at the prospect of days of isolating.
Speaking to the PA news agency over the phone, delivery driver Roger Goncalves, 23, who lives in London, said: “I did my test for coronavirus. The test was negative. Why do I need to stay in my room?”
He explained he had tried to fly back from Brazil last week – before the requirement to quarantine in a hotel was in place – but his airline cancelled his flight.
He described the £1,750 cost of staying in the hotels as “crazy”.
Asked how he will spend the time in his room, Goncalves said he would “watch TV, watch Netflix”.
Zari Tadayon, who flew into Britain on Monday from Dubai, will have to spend her 69th birthday alone in a Radisson Blu hotel room.
Tadayon, who hails from Greece but has pre-settled status and her family in Britain, flew to Dubai on January 22 to deal with some legal matters before Britain brought in its hotel quarantine policy.
“It’s disappointing – it’s quite disappointing,” Tadayon told Reuters from the hotel. “I’m not sure if I am allowed out – nobody explained anything to me.”
She will celebrate her birthday on Tuesday alone in her room.
“I can’t even see my children on my birthday,” Tadayon said.
“The cost is quite high – I wasn’t prepared for this forced expense. I could have given it to my children or celebrated my birthday nicely with my family for half of that amount or even a quarter of that amount.”
Tadayon said she had to wait for several hours on entry into the country because of teething problems with the quarantine policy.
“The officers at the immigration were not very sort of up-to-date about what they should be doing – we just waited and waited for a hotel,” she said.
Asked what she would do for 10 days, she said: “I don’t know. I don’t have any books with me as I was not prepared. Maybe watch TV and chat with friends and family online. What else can you do?”
