20 February 2021 | New Scientist | 11Analysis Border control
SINCE Monday 15 February,
travellers arriving in England from
a “red list” of 33 countries have
been required to quarantine in a
hotel for 10 days. The ruling has
been criticised as inconsistent,
and won’t stop new coronavirus
variants from entering the country.
Travellers will now be required
to quarantine at their own expense,
taking a covid-19 test on day
two and day eight of their stay.
The quarantine will be extended
if a person tests positive.
Tough measures are in store for
individuals who fail to quarantine
with fines of up to £10,000.
Anyone who provides false
information about their travel
arrangements could face a prison
sentence of up to 10 years.
Scotland will require all arriving
air passengers to quarantine in
hotels, while Wales will enforce
the same rules as England.
UK health secretary Matt Hancock
told parliament on 9 February that
he had sought advice from the
Australian government on hotel
quarantine measures. It is unclear,
however, what lessons from
Australia will be implemented.
Like many other countries that
have controlled the spread of
covid-19, Australia has had strict
border controls in place for nearly
a year. Since late March, returning
residents have been required to
spend 14 days in hotel quarantine.
“In the case of Australia, the goal
is to eliminate the risk of international
travellers bringing covid-19 into
an environment where we have
no community spread,” says
Nancy Baxter at the University of
Melbourne. “But when your country
has one of the world’s biggest
outbreaks, I’m not really sure what
you’re gaining by having hotel
quarantine – other than being ready
for when you do get your numbers
to the point where international
travellers pose a greater risk to your
community than just going
to the grocery store.”
“I think it might very well be too
late,” says Beverley Paterson at the
University of Newcastle in Australia.
Hancock has said that the border
rules are needed to “secure the
nation against new variants of
coronavirus”. However, given that
the new quarantine rules will be
enforced only for passengers
returning from red-listed countries,
many researchers think they are
unlikely to be effective. “Clearly there
are political reasons that countries
are or aren’t on that list. It’s not
a risk-based plan,” says Baxter.
For instance, the US isn’t on
the red list, despite the rapid spread
of a new virus variant in California.
The likelihood of a new variant
being introduced from the US
is enormous, says Paterson.
Labour leader Keir Starmer
and Scotland’s first minister
Nicola Sturgeon have both
criticised the incompleteness
of England’s approach.
The policy for travellers arriving
in England also goes against advice
from the UK’s Scientific Advisory
Group for Emergencies (SAGE)EN
STANSALL/AF
P^ VIA^
GE
TT
Y^ I
MAGESStaff at St Giles Hotel
near Heathrow airport
use thermal scanningEngland’s quarantine hotels won’t stop variants
The decision that visitors from only some countries must isolate in
hotels ignores scientific advice and is bound to fail, says Donna Lu
on 21 January, which concluded
that “no intervention, other than
a complete, pre-emptive closure
of borders, or the mandatory
quarantine of all visitors upon arrival
in designated facilities, irrespective
of testing history, can get close
to fully prevent the importation
of cases or new variants”.
It will be important that hotel
quarantine workers in the UK are
adequately protected to minimise
the risk of infection and further
community transmission.
In Australia, infections in hotel
workers have led four cities to enact
snap lockdowns since November.A leak from hotel quarantine was
also responsible for the second
wave in Melbourne in July,
triggering 111 days of lockdown.
Hotel quarantine workers should
be adequately remunerated so
they don’t need to work multiple
jobs, says Baxter, and candidates
should exclude individuals with
close contacts working in high-risk
areas, such as in care homes.
In the Australian state of Victoria,
workers are tested for covid-
daily, including on their days off, and
wear fitted N95 masks. Baxter says
that hotel quarantine workers must
also be vaccinated as a priority.
To minimise transmission risk, UK
hotels used for quarantine should be
adequately ventilated, with windows
and balconies that open to the
outside. Staggered mealtimes
may also help to stop transmission.
But these measures may end up
being a waste of effort if large gaps
in the system aren’t addressed. “If the
UK wants to do it properly, they need
to quarantine every person coming
into the UK,” says Paterson. “There’s
no point in half measures.” ❚A traveller arriving at
London Heathrow airport
in January, before the new
rules came into effectHOLL
IE^ ADAMS/GETT
Y^ IMAG
ES“ No intervention, other than
mandatory quarantine of
all visitors, can prevent the
importation of variants”