Travellers in self-isolation after a trip abroad will be visited by Test and Trace staff this summer as part of a Government crackdown on quaratine dodgers.
The strict new service will use NHS workers to ensure that anyone required to stay at home after international travel is doing so. The checks will be in addition to those already carried out by police offiers, who the Government says make up to 1,000 home visits a day.
Currently, holidays overseas remain illegal and those entering the country must quarantine for 10 days at home, or at a managed facility if they are arriving from a “red list” country. But more and more Britons are expected to go abroad next month in line with a new “traffic light system” when international travel resumes.
NHS Test and Trace staff will not have any enforcement powers, but a referral will be made to the police if they believe that an individual may be breaching quarantine rules. Those who fail to comply face fixed penalty fines of £1000, rising to £10,000 for repeat offenders.
As well as potential house visits, incoming travellers are called and sent text messages to check they are staying at home. Quarantine measures will remain in place when international travel restarts at the end of May for “red” and “amber” countries, with only arrivals from a few “green list” countries exempt from the measure.
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