Do key workers need to quarantine if they are on holiday right now?
FRANCE, Malta and The Netherlands are the latest countries to be added to the UK's quarantine list, following Belgium and Spain due to rising coronavirus cases.
But do quarantine restrictions apply to key workers like nurses, police officers and journalists?
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Do key workers need to quarantine?
Anyone returning from a quarantine country must fill out the Public Health passenger locator form and go straight into quarantine on arrival.
This includes most NHS workers, police and other key workers who were allowed to work during lockdown.
Unless you are working on very specific international business, you are unlikely to be exempt.
Holidays do not count either, and therefore you will have to quarantine for two weeks once you get back no matter what you do for a living.
Who is exempt from quarantine?
Most of the exemptions cover either transport professionals or key workers travelling from abroad to the UK on very specific business.
Individuals that are exempt from quarantine will still have to fill out the standard tracking form and must have official clearance that they can produce at the border.
Among those that are exempt are:
- Essential UK and foreign diplomats that are on a mission, including intelligence staff
- Defence personnel, forces and contractors who are confirmed as exempt through the Ministry of Defence
- Border security and maintenance staff
- People who live in the UK but work in another country and travel between the UK and country of work at least once a week, and vice versa.
- People licenced to transport passengers by coach and bus internationally
- International freight and goods drivers, including post and medicine.
- Eurotunnel and Eurostar staff, pilots and air crew
- Industry and infrastructure specialists that are coming in for work purposes
- International prison escorts
- People essential to clinical trials and studies
If you are unsure if you qualify, .
What do I need to do if I have to quarantine?
Anyone arriving from a country on the UK quarantine list will have to self-isolate for two weeks from the day they enter the country.
This means no leaving the house for any reason, including shops, exercise and dog walking.
Children as part of the household will not be forced to go to school, and will not be penalised, according to Government guidance.
Police are conducting checks to ensure people are quarantining and not leaving their place of residence for the two-week period.
Anyone caught breaking the rules will face fines of £1,000.
Brits living in the UK can quarantine at their own home, but they are not allowed to leave the house for a fortnight.
Anyone without accommodation should be provided with somewhere to stay by the Government.
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Since August 15, Malta, France and The Netherlands have been on the UK quarantine list, which followed Spain on July 26.
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There are fears that Greece, Croatia and Turkey could be next, as their coronavirus infection rate increases.
Using data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), any country with more than 20 new cases per 100,000 population for seven days is placed on the UK's watchlist, and is likely to be taken off the air bridge exemption list.