Jun 4, 2020, 5:57 am
Last edit by: NewbieRunner
Mod note on thread engagement:
A reminder that this thread is about the self-isolation requirements for UK arrivals.
It is a help/Information resource for those travelling or returning to England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland from outside the UK. Let's concentrate on news, questions and answers that are relevant and on-topic and stay away from speculations about the spread of the virus, the performance of politicians and other topics which are more suitable for OMNI.
Please stay within these requirements to avoid issues.
A reminder that this thread is about the self-isolation requirements for UK arrivals.
It is a help/Information resource for those travelling or returning to England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland from outside the UK. Let's concentrate on news, questions and answers that are relevant and on-topic and stay away from speculations about the spread of the virus, the performance of politicians and other topics which are more suitable for OMNI.
Please stay within these requirements to avoid issues.
LATEST UPDATES
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/travel-t...virus-covid-19
18 March travel to the UK changes
If you will arrive in the UK from abroad after 4am, Friday 18 March, you do not need to:
- take any COVID-19 tests – before you travel or after you arrive
- fill in a UK passenger locator form before you travel
This will apply whether you are vaccinated or not.
You also will not need to quarantine when you arrive, in line with current rules.
Other countries still have COVID-19 entry rules in place. You should check travel advice before you travel.
If you will arrive in England before 4am, 18 March, you must follow the current rules as set out in this guidance.
*****
The following historical information is retained for the time being.
The Passenger Locator Form for passengers arriving into the UK can be found here:
https://visas-immigration.service.go...r-locator-form
This can only be completed once you are within 48 hours of arrival in the UK.
Exemption list from quarantine requirements - specific details:
https://www.gov.uk/government/public...k-border-rules
England
Statutory instrument for individual passengers arriving in to England: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2021/582/contents (this html version is updated, but may not have the very latest updates for Statutory Instruments released in the last few days)
Test to release for England only from 15 December, see post 4776 https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/32841066-post4776.html
Statutory instrument for transport providers http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2.../contents/made
Scotland
Statutory instrument for individual passengers arriving in to Scotland: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2020/169/contents (this html version is updated)
Wales
Statutory instrument for individual passengers arriving in to Wales: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/wsi/2020/574/contents (this html version is updated) &
Welsh language version: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/wsi/2...0200574_we.pdf
Northern Ireland
Statutory instrument https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/2021/99/contents (this html version is updated)
PRACTICAL GUIDANCE FOR QUICK RELEASE FROM SELF-ISOLATION (based on November 28th updates)
[This section has been moved lower down in the wiki post following the change in self-isolation rule on 7th January 2022[
Any PCR test noted as a UK Government Day 2 test will be accepted for release from self isolation as soon as you get the negative result. If it is any other PCR test (eg "Fit to Fly") and not advertised specifically as a Day 2 test then it won't be valid.
This means that you can:[list]
- Book a suitable Day 2 PCR test before you travel and use the booking reference for the test on the PLF (Passenger Locator Form).
- On your day of arrival go to your scheduled test.
- Proceed to you place of self-isolation and await the result, which will hopefully be same / next day.
Alternatively:- Book any Day 2 PCR test before you travel even if you do not intend to use this test, and use the booking reference for the test on the PLF to ensure entry to the UK.
- Note that you are not strictly required to have a PCR booking before arrival, but your carrier might not know that so you run the risk of being denied boarding
- On your day of arrival (or before end of Day 2) go to a walk-in test centre and take a different test to the one you booked.
- Proceed to you place of self-isolation and await the result, which will hopefully be same / next day.
If you are leaving the UK before the end of day 2 then you do not need to take a test, but are required to self-isolate for the duration of your trip (since you do not have a negative result). Also, if you are self-isolating while waiting for a result (and hence have not been informed of a positive result and need to isolate) you may travel to leave the country.
If you take a test and it is positive for any variant of COVID you will be required to isolate for 10 days from the date of the test.
Whether you take a test or not you may be contacted by the UK Test and Trace system at any time if it becomes apparent that you have been in contact with another case. This is very unlikely to happen before day 3 if it is in relation to your flight to UK. Depending on the suspected / identified variant for that case and if you are fully-vaccinated by an accepted programme (see below for links to what this means and valid exemptions) :- Omnicron or not fully-vaccinated: You will be required to isolated for 10 days, including a bar on travel to leave the country. A negative Day 2 test does not release you from this requirement.
- Other and fully vaccinated : You will not be required to isolate.
- Book any Day 2 PCR test before you travel even if you do not intend to use this test, and use the booking reference for the test on the PLF to ensure entry to the UK.
- Proceed to you place of self-isolation and await the result, which will hopefully be same / next day.
- On your day of arrival go to your scheduled test.
Test Providers for Day 2/8 tests & Day 5 Test to release
This section is for FTers to post their experience with specific providers (good or bad). Keep it brief and to the point. Please mention how the service is provided and your FT name.
DNA Workplace - Postal - Test kits arrived with me on time. Royal Mail slow for return. 5+ days for Day 2 result. #DaveS
DNA Workplace - Postal - Test kits both arrived on time, video of tests required, results by late evening Day 3 and Day 9. #TSE
ExpressTest Gatwick - Drive through - Tested early at 1000 a few times for TTR. Results came through in evening. #DaveS
NowTest - Postal - Day 2 kit arrived on time, day 8 did not. Will update with result arrival times when applicable. #wilsnunn
Collinson - Postal - Day 5 Test to Release kit arrived in time. Results and release by end of day 6. #tjcxx
CTM - Postal - Days 2/8 kits arrived together in time. Both sent results 2 days after posting. #tjcxx
Qured (Oncologica) - Postal -Day 2/8 kits arrived late. Results 3+ days from posting. #Gagravarr
Qured (Oncologica) - Postal - Day 2/8 kits arrived on time. Day 2 result on Day 5 and Day 8 result on Day 10 - happy customer! #EddLegll
Qured (Ocnologica) - Postal - Day 2/8 kits arrived on time. Day 2 result on Day 5 (after bedtime; ironically after my TTR result). #KSVVZ2015
Anglia DNA - Postal - Day 2/8 kits arrived early. (Both were labelled Day2). Results on Day 4 and Day 9. Cheapest on the list at the time, and good service/result. #tjcxx
Qured - Pre-flight test booked and bought through BA. Very efficient service. Highly recommended. #lhrsfo
Randox - Days 2 and 8. Booked two days before return, using BA discount. Kits already arrived on return. Slightly confusing instructions but manageable. Used Randox dropbox and results next day. Good. #lhrsfo
Randox - Day 2 (also used as pre departure test for a London to Milan flight). Used a drop box and results arrived at midnight the next day. #11101
Randox - Day 2 test centre - 2h30 queues outside the test centre in Waterloo. Results of antigen arrived 45 minutes later. #11101
Collinson - Test to Release at LHR T2. Good trip out! Very efficient service and well organised. Used BA discount. Results by end of day. Excellent. #lhrsfo
DAM - Test to Release in Fulham (they have many locations) - the cheapest fast turnaround TTR we have found. They promise 24 hours but in reality me, my wife, and my son (on different days) have received results inside of 12 hours. Very efficient staff as well. Princes outside of Central London as low as 99 GBP. Fulham is 129 GBP. #KSVVZ2015
Boots/Source Bioscience - days 2&8. Both packs sent in the same mail, waiting at the isolation address. Dropped off at postbox at 4pm, result back next day between 4 and 5 pm, very effective. Bought from Boots, £160, but same package sold directly bu Source Bioscience is just £120. Aaargh! Instructions said nasal and throat swabs, did only nasal and marked accordingly, no issues. #WilcoRoger
Collinsons/Stansted walkin TTR - test taken 1:30 pm, email with results 10:10 pm same day If the BA20OFF doesn't work (didn't work for us) there's another discount on the airport's site #WilcoRoger
Ordered Day-2 kit from Chronomics a week before our return for £18.99. Duly dispatched day we were returning to UK, so arrived on day following return. Reasonably simple process to do test and upload -ve result picture. Not sure where +ve result would have led to... #EsherFlyer
Hale Clinic testing centre (near Oxford Circus) - While not the least expensive, appoint schedules are accurate and results returned in promised timeframe. I've used the clinic for Day 2 tests (twice) and antigen test for US (once). I would def utilize again. #ecaarch
Halo at T5 (Sofitel) - Day 2 PCR spit test. Took the test 7pm, results arrived 7am the next day. No queues but a slightly awkward process to follow.
Useful data sources:
New cases per 100k - 7 days: https://covid19.who.int/table
New tests per 1000 - 7 days: https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing
Vaccination doses per 100: https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations
Sequenced samples uploaded to GISAID: https://www.gisaid.org/index.php?id=208
NHS Track & Trace data (positivity rates for arriving passengers are published every three weeks, so if you can't find the data in the current release it will be in one of the previous two) https://www.gov.uk/government/collec...weekly-reports https://assets.publishing.service.go...ut_week_50.ods
UK daily COVID data https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/?_ga...827.1594116739
Risk assessment methodology to inform international travel traffic light system
Data informing international travel traffic-light risk assessments
Testing Terminology
Notes which may assist with understanding which tests to use and with "reuse" of UK tests for other countries regulations:
- LFT: Lateral Flow Test - A rapid antigen test using nasal / throat swab typically performed by the traveler at home, hotel, etc using simple disposable device. Usually tests the "outer shell" of the nucleus (which causes the symptoms and is reasonably stable across variants) and not the "spikes" (which allow new variants to invade more easily), so gives a positive result for many variants. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-...d_antigen_test)
- PCR: Polymerase Chain Reaction - A laboratory based test which looks at the nucleus of the virus to determine which specific variant it is. After a positive LFT test ("I have some form of COVID") a PCR test ("You have the Gamma variant") allows identification and tracking of new variants to see if they are likely to become a "variant of concern". (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymerase_chain_reaction)
- NAAT: Nucleic Acid Amplification Test - A general class of laboratory based tests which includes PCR, LAMP, etc tests. (See https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019...b/naats.html)
UK arrivals - pre-departure, quarantine and post-arrival [currently no requirements]
May 9, 2020, 12:17 am
#61
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Anywhere
Posts: 6,576
The UK government kept saying that they are going to follow the “Singapore model”.
As someone who’s been through that model, this is typically what happens when someone lands in Singapore:
- Before arriving at airport immigration, you’d be approached by an officer, have your passport and local identity card photocopied, and handed a set of papers to explain that you’re put on 14 days isolation.
- You’re not allowed to leave your place of isolation (home or designated hotel) under any circumstances, and it’s recommended that you don’t be in the same room as the rest of your family (sleep in separate room if possible) and don’t share cutlery and bathroom (if possible).
- You're also asked to key in your mobile number into an app that they have, it triggers an SMS and you’re required to show the SMS to the officer before they allow you to proceed to immigration.
- The last page is a form which you’d have to fill in and sign (to acknowledge you understand the quarantine legal conditions) and hand it to the immigration officer together with the photocopy made earlier of your passport and local identity card. Parents will sign for minors (meaning, if children screw up and fail to isolate, parents are on the hook).
- Thereafter you’re to go back to your isolation location immediately, no detours or pit stops (people have been hauled to court and given jail sentences with fines for doing so).
- Twice or thrice a day, you’d receive a text message with a link, and you’re required to click on the link within the next hour, which registers the geo location of your mobile (to prove that you’re at the same location throughout). If you’re late in doing so, you’d receive a further investigative phone or video call from the authorities.
As someone who’s been through that model, this is typically what happens when someone lands in Singapore:
- Before arriving at airport immigration, you’d be approached by an officer, have your passport and local identity card photocopied, and handed a set of papers to explain that you’re put on 14 days isolation.
- You’re not allowed to leave your place of isolation (home or designated hotel) under any circumstances, and it’s recommended that you don’t be in the same room as the rest of your family (sleep in separate room if possible) and don’t share cutlery and bathroom (if possible).
- You're also asked to key in your mobile number into an app that they have, it triggers an SMS and you’re required to show the SMS to the officer before they allow you to proceed to immigration.
- The last page is a form which you’d have to fill in and sign (to acknowledge you understand the quarantine legal conditions) and hand it to the immigration officer together with the photocopy made earlier of your passport and local identity card. Parents will sign for minors (meaning, if children screw up and fail to isolate, parents are on the hook).
- Thereafter you’re to go back to your isolation location immediately, no detours or pit stops (people have been hauled to court and given jail sentences with fines for doing so).
- Twice or thrice a day, you’d receive a text message with a link, and you’re required to click on the link within the next hour, which registers the geo location of your mobile (to prove that you’re at the same location throughout). If you’re late in doing so, you’d receive a further investigative phone or video call from the authorities.
May 9, 2020, 12:19 am
#62
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 1,015
The rational for introducing this will be a point at which the UK's scientific and medical advisers believe incoming passengers will present more of a risk to spreading the disease than those already in country.
That will be the reason it wasn't introduced earlier. Right decisions at the right time etc.
That will be the reason it wasn't introduced earlier. Right decisions at the right time etc.
May 9, 2020, 12:29 am
#63
Suspended
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Bay Area
Programs: DL SM, UA MP.
Posts: 12,729
The UK government kept saying that they are going to follow the “Singapore model”.
As someone who’s been through that model, this is typically what happens when someone lands in Singapore:
- Before arriving at airport immigration, you’d be approached by an officer, have your passport and local identity card photocopied, and handed a set of papers to explain that you’re put on 14 days isolation.
- You’re not allowed to leave your place of isolation (home or designated hotel) under any circumstances, and it’s recommended that you don’t be in the same room as the rest of your family (sleep in separate room if possible) and don’t share cutlery and bathroom (if possible).
- You're also asked to key in your mobile number into an app that they have, it triggers an SMS and you’re required to show the SMS to the officer before they allow you to proceed to immigration.
- The last page is a form which you’d have to fill in and sign (to acknowledge you understand the quarantine legal conditions) and hand it to the immigration officer together with the photocopy made earlier of your passport and local identity card. Parents will sign for minors (meaning, if children screw up and fail to isolate, parents are on the hook).
- Thereafter you’re to go back to your isolation location immediately, no detours or pit stops (people have been hauled to court and given jail sentences with fines for doing so).
- Twice or thrice a day, you’d receive a text message with a link, and you’re required to click on the link within the next hour, which registers the geo location of your mobile (to prove that you’re at the same location throughout). If you’re late in doing so, you’d receive a further investigative phone or video call from the authorities.
As someone who’s been through that model, this is typically what happens when someone lands in Singapore:
- Before arriving at airport immigration, you’d be approached by an officer, have your passport and local identity card photocopied, and handed a set of papers to explain that you’re put on 14 days isolation.
- You’re not allowed to leave your place of isolation (home or designated hotel) under any circumstances, and it’s recommended that you don’t be in the same room as the rest of your family (sleep in separate room if possible) and don’t share cutlery and bathroom (if possible).
- You're also asked to key in your mobile number into an app that they have, it triggers an SMS and you’re required to show the SMS to the officer before they allow you to proceed to immigration.
- The last page is a form which you’d have to fill in and sign (to acknowledge you understand the quarantine legal conditions) and hand it to the immigration officer together with the photocopy made earlier of your passport and local identity card. Parents will sign for minors (meaning, if children screw up and fail to isolate, parents are on the hook).
- Thereafter you’re to go back to your isolation location immediately, no detours or pit stops (people have been hauled to court and given jail sentences with fines for doing so).
- Twice or thrice a day, you’d receive a text message with a link, and you’re required to click on the link within the next hour, which registers the geo location of your mobile (to prove that you’re at the same location throughout). If you’re late in doing so, you’d receive a further investigative phone or video call from the authorities.
Because if the latter is the case, it probably makes most holiday travel prohibitive. You'd be paying a small fortune at Singapore (or London, or Paris) booking rates just to stay sheltered in hotel for 2 weeks.
And then what happens if you develop symptoms during that 14-day period? You get taken to a hospital and as a non-resident or citizen, you'd get billed for the hospital stay and treatment?
May 9, 2020, 12:31 am
#64
Suspended
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Canada, USA, Europe
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 31,452
The UK government kept saying that they are going to follow the “Singapore model”.
As someone who’s been through that model, this is typically what happens when someone lands in Singapore:
- Before arriving at airport immigration, you’d be approached by an officer, have your passport and local identity card photocopied, and handed a set of papers to explain that you’re put on 14 days isolation.
- You’re not allowed to leave your place of isolation (home or designated hotel) under any circumstances, and it’s recommended that you don’t be in the same room as the rest of your family (sleep in separate room if possible) and don’t share cutlery and bathroom (if possible).
- You're also asked to key in your mobile number into an app that they have, it triggers an SMS and you’re required to show the SMS to the officer before they allow you to proceed to immigration.
- The last page is a form which you’d have to fill in and sign (to acknowledge you understand the quarantine legal conditions) and hand it to the immigration officer together with the photocopy made earlier of your passport and local identity card. Parents will sign for minors (meaning, if children screw up and fail to isolate, parents are on the hook).
- Thereafter you’re to go back to your isolation location immediately, no detours or pit stops (people have been hauled to court and given jail sentences with fines for doing so).
- Twice or thrice a day, you’d receive a text message with a link, and you’re required to click on the link within the next hour, which registers the geo location of your mobile (to prove that you’re at the same location throughout). If you’re late in doing so, you’d receive a further investigative phone or video call from the authorities.
As someone who’s been through that model, this is typically what happens when someone lands in Singapore:
- Before arriving at airport immigration, you’d be approached by an officer, have your passport and local identity card photocopied, and handed a set of papers to explain that you’re put on 14 days isolation.
- You’re not allowed to leave your place of isolation (home or designated hotel) under any circumstances, and it’s recommended that you don’t be in the same room as the rest of your family (sleep in separate room if possible) and don’t share cutlery and bathroom (if possible).
- You're also asked to key in your mobile number into an app that they have, it triggers an SMS and you’re required to show the SMS to the officer before they allow you to proceed to immigration.
- The last page is a form which you’d have to fill in and sign (to acknowledge you understand the quarantine legal conditions) and hand it to the immigration officer together with the photocopy made earlier of your passport and local identity card. Parents will sign for minors (meaning, if children screw up and fail to isolate, parents are on the hook).
- Thereafter you’re to go back to your isolation location immediately, no detours or pit stops (people have been hauled to court and given jail sentences with fines for doing so).
- Twice or thrice a day, you’d receive a text message with a link, and you’re required to click on the link within the next hour, which registers the geo location of your mobile (to prove that you’re at the same location throughout). If you’re late in doing so, you’d receive a further investigative phone or video call from the authorities.
May 9, 2020, 12:31 am
#65
Suspended
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Bay Area
Programs: DL SM, UA MP.
Posts: 12,729
In the case of France (and other EU countries) the idea is to start building travel within a 'bubble', a bit like Australia and NZ are considering. Most EU countries are in a similar situation with regards to the state of the pandemic and that's believed to be a fairly safe way of re-starting travel and helping the economy.
With regards to the UK... No clue as to why they're doing it now or how it'll be enforced. If the current lockdown is anything to go by, upon arrival you'll be told "please self-quarantine" and that will be it. I'm seeing people sunbathing, drinking in the parks, having BBQs, playing frisbee here in London: the police either drives by and says nothing or at best they ask people to disperse.
With regards to the UK... No clue as to why they're doing it now or how it'll be enforced. If the current lockdown is anything to go by, upon arrival you'll be told "please self-quarantine" and that will be it. I'm seeing people sunbathing, drinking in the parks, having BBQs, playing frisbee here in London: the police either drives by and says nothing or at best they ask people to disperse.
As for the UK, maybe things will change by next month but it seems currently to be a hot spot, so people would be wary of going but a 14-day quarantine on arrival probably kills much interest.
May 9, 2020, 12:37 am
#66
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: RBKC
Programs: AA EXP and Eurostar Carte Blanche
Posts: 3,850
If the requirement is indeed for quarantine at a private residence, then that would seem to suggest that it is an effort to discourage tourism… Not sure about business travel…
May 9, 2020, 12:42 am
#67
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: London
Posts: 726
The rational for introducing this will be a point at which the UK's scientific and medical advisers believe incoming passengers will present more of a risk to spreading the disease than those already in country.
That will be the reason it wasn't introduced earlier. Right decisions at the right time etc.
That will be the reason it wasn't introduced earlier. Right decisions at the right time etc.
I'm genuinely wondering what the downsides would have been to the government introducing this earlier like other countries have done.
May 9, 2020, 1:05 am
#68
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Anywhere
Posts: 6,576
So do they provide this quarantine housing or are you expected to book a hotel stay of 14 days PLUS however many days you planned to stay and pay for that?
Because if the latter is the case, it probably makes most holiday travel prohibitive. You'd be paying a small fortune at Singapore (or London, or Paris) booking rates just to stay sheltered in hotel for 2 weeks.
Because if the latter is the case, it probably makes most holiday travel prohibitive. You'd be paying a small fortune at Singapore (or London, or Paris) booking rates just to stay sheltered in hotel for 2 weeks.
Lest anyone thinks isolation at luxury hotels is a nice extension to end the holiday, it's not. You're strictly confined in your own room and disallowed from using the hotel's pool, gym and other facilities like lounges (they're all closed anyway) and restaurants (limited opening for takeaways only). Absolutely noone is allowed to visit you. No housekeeping. Even food delivery from the hotel is just hung on your door knob, where the deliverer would just ring your door bell and walk away before you open the door.
And a further twist. The government has now established that Singapore residents who choose to travel abroad after a certain date - against their travel advisory - must pay for the cost of their 14 day self-isolation at their designated facilities upon returning! This surely makes people think twice to go against the travel advisory and fly out of Singapore.
Last edited by carrotjuice; May 9, 2020 at 1:14 am
May 9, 2020, 1:09 am
#69
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: London
Programs: BA GGL (for now) and Lifetime Gold, Marriott fan thanks to Bonvoy Moments
Posts: 5,115
It’s the bluntness of what’s being reported that irritates me at this stage. Greece has basically no local transmission now but parts of US are suffering, so why should they be treated the same. Just feels like a dog-whistle policy (“dirty, diseased foreigners”) rather than an evidence based policy at this stage.
(When you’re doing a pretty good job locally, eg HK and Singapore, the blunt approach is fine because pretty much everybody is worse than you...)
ETA - and Ireland is supposedly exempt. We’re doing a better job than UK (hard not to!) but in absolute terms a visitor from Germany, Greece or Denmark is no greater risk. Maybe it’s too much hassle to say the rules will apply slightly differently in GB vs. NI but surely easy to differentiate by type of arrival - sea / air / land?
(When you’re doing a pretty good job locally, eg HK and Singapore, the blunt approach is fine because pretty much everybody is worse than you...)
ETA - and Ireland is supposedly exempt. We’re doing a better job than UK (hard not to!) but in absolute terms a visitor from Germany, Greece or Denmark is no greater risk. Maybe it’s too much hassle to say the rules will apply slightly differently in GB vs. NI but surely easy to differentiate by type of arrival - sea / air / land?
May 9, 2020, 1:12 am
#70
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Anywhere
Posts: 6,576
Now, another twist. Should you now travel abroad - against the government's travel advisory - and you get diagnosed with COVID-19 within 14 days of returning to Singapore, you'd now have to bear all your medical costs on your own and at non subsidised rates, you can't even claim under your government approved insurance program to defray the cost! Again this is another effective constraint that prevents people from travelling overseas now.
May 9, 2020, 1:26 am
#71
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: clue is in the nym
Programs: BA Gold, TP Gold, VS Gold, Hilton Diamond, IHG Diamond, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 832
This is closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. Pure populism. And hypocritical too after allowing mass gatherings for so long into the pandemic, even welcoming thousands of Real Madrid football fans to the UK while Spain was going into lockdown.
I would expect it to be far more likely that travellers from the UK and other high risk countries are quarantined when entering lower risk countries.
I would expect it to be far more likely that travellers from the UK and other high risk countries are quarantined when entering lower risk countries.
Last edited by NewbieRunner; May 9, 2020 at 8:16 am Reason: redacted OMNI comment
May 9, 2020, 1:32 am
#72
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Kazakhstan
Programs: BA Gold, AirAstana Silver (much use as chocolate teapot)
Posts: 867
The UK government kept saying that they are going to follow the “Singapore model”.
As someone who’s been through that model, this is typically what happens when someone lands in Singapore:
- Before arriving at airport immigration, you’d be approached by an officer, have your passport and local identity card photocopied, and handed a set of papers to explain that you’re put on 14 days isolation.
- You’re not allowed to leave your place of isolation (home or designated hotel) under any circumstances, and it’s recommended that you don’t be in the same room as the rest of your family (sleep in separate room if possible) and don’t share cutlery and bathroom (if possible).
- You're also asked to key in your mobile number into an app that they have, it triggers an SMS and you’re required to show the SMS to the officer before they allow you to proceed to immigration.
- The last page is a form which you’d have to fill in and sign (to acknowledge you understand the quarantine legal conditions) and hand it to the immigration officer together with the photocopy made earlier of your passport and local identity card. Parents will sign for minors (meaning, if children screw up and fail to isolate, parents are on the hook).
- Thereafter you’re to go back to your isolation location immediately, no detours or pit stops (people have been hauled to court and given jail sentences with fines for doing so).
- Twice or thrice a day, you’d receive a text message with a link, and you’re required to click on the link within the next hour, which registers the geo location of your mobile (to prove that you’re at the same location throughout). If you’re late in doing so, you’d receive a further investigative phone or video call from the authorities.
As someone who’s been through that model, this is typically what happens when someone lands in Singapore:
- Before arriving at airport immigration, you’d be approached by an officer, have your passport and local identity card photocopied, and handed a set of papers to explain that you’re put on 14 days isolation.
- You’re not allowed to leave your place of isolation (home or designated hotel) under any circumstances, and it’s recommended that you don’t be in the same room as the rest of your family (sleep in separate room if possible) and don’t share cutlery and bathroom (if possible).
- You're also asked to key in your mobile number into an app that they have, it triggers an SMS and you’re required to show the SMS to the officer before they allow you to proceed to immigration.
- The last page is a form which you’d have to fill in and sign (to acknowledge you understand the quarantine legal conditions) and hand it to the immigration officer together with the photocopy made earlier of your passport and local identity card. Parents will sign for minors (meaning, if children screw up and fail to isolate, parents are on the hook).
- Thereafter you’re to go back to your isolation location immediately, no detours or pit stops (people have been hauled to court and given jail sentences with fines for doing so).
- Twice or thrice a day, you’d receive a text message with a link, and you’re required to click on the link within the next hour, which registers the geo location of your mobile (to prove that you’re at the same location throughout). If you’re late in doing so, you’d receive a further investigative phone or video call from the authorities.
May 9, 2020, 1:39 am
#73
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: clue is in the nym
Programs: BA Gold, TP Gold, VS Gold, Hilton Diamond, IHG Diamond, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 832
The rational for introducing this will be a point at which the UK's scientific and medical advisers believe incoming passengers will present more of a risk to spreading the disease than those already in country.
That will be the reason it wasn't introduced earlier. Right decisions at the right time etc.
That will be the reason it wasn't introduced earlier. Right decisions at the right time etc.
Back in the day what did UK government do? Sweet FA
At currently reported levels of infection (~5,000 positive tests a day for the last 6 weeks and no sign of it abating), the UK presents more of a risk to everywhere else than everywhere else does to the UK. Imposing quarantine measures now is mere theatre
May 9, 2020, 1:53 am
#74
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: SIN
Programs: EK Blue, EY Guest, AA, QR
Posts: 288
Half, or even more, of the "measures" taken across the world is pure theatre and placebo.
But we are in a frame of mind, where questioning any of it makes you "anti-science"
A lot of malls now have a "sanitization gate" where you are sprayed with a soap solution...
Does little to nothing to stop spread except killing any virus on your clothes, but people are happy and cheering for it believing it "kills the virus inside you".
Same with countries requiring people to wear gloves in public. There is absolutely no way wearing a pair of gloves helps you in not spreading viruses, unless you keep changing them every time you enter or leave a place, yet a lot of people here wear gloves even when driving their own cars.
May 9, 2020, 2:17 am
#75
Join Date: Dec 2019
Location: Somerset
Programs: BA Gold, Mucci des Transports de Navette
Posts: 270
Why don't they just test all new arrivals and quarantine until the results come back?