The UK quarantine rules are a confusing mess – and it won’t be long before people have had enough

A series of recent decisions have spread nothing but confusion, writes Janet Street-Porter. Yes, we have to protect the UK – but there has to be a better way than this

The 'safe' list of countries you can visit changes every week (AFP/Getty)

The UK’s quarantine laws are a total fiasco. There’s no logic, no consideration for the public, just a series of hasty decisions, poorly communicated.

Like giving people five hours’ notice on 25 July (traditionally the busiest travel weekend of the year) that they couldn’t visit Spain unless they were prepared to quarantine for two weeks on their return. I wouldn’t trust Grant Shapps and co to run a sausage factory, let alone decide where I can take my much anticipated summer holiday.

Do you know anyone who has been prosecuted for failing to self-isolate on their return from a country on the “danger” list? There’s supposed to be £1,000 fines, but they will be as ineffectual as the fines for parents taking their kids out of school in term time.

Now, the fearmongers have taken over at mission control, warning that France “could be next” – as the number of infections on Wednesday rose to 1,695, the highest number in more than two months (although only 137 new cases required hospital treatment). There are more than 450,000 Brits on holiday in France, and they must be wondering what the new few weeks will hold.

Once again, the government’s messaging just leaves us anxious. Worried about whether we can return to work, worried about the financial implications of coming home quickly to avoid quarantine. So what are the chances of France being the next country to avoid? When restrictions were imposed on travel to Spain, the number of daily cases were under 1,000. Portugal, which was on the list of banned countries, only had 263 cases, so they will probably now be placed on the “safe” list.

But of course all this could change without warning, depending on the rate of infection. Every country is trying to keep their “R” (infection) rate down, but there’s no consistent approach. Planning any kind of holiday has become an expensive lottery. I cancelled a trip to Italy, but now I wish I had held my nerve. I’ve replaced it with a trip to Scotland, but who knows what Nicola Sturgeon might decide – she’s already put Aberdeen in lockdown, so thank goodness I am heading to remote Sutherland.

Travel in a world with Covid-19 means negotiating a raft of fast-changing rules and regulations. Turkey requires health screening on arrival, Austria and the Channel Islands require proof of a negative Covid-19 test taken 72 hours before your journey. Free testing on arrival is going to be compulsory at all German airports. Hong Kong and Australia are closed to visitors. Iceland requires testing on arrival, whereas Greece only requests that you complete a form stating where you will be staying. Given these different approaches, should the UK persist with quarantine? Isn’t there an alternative?

In June, Professor Peter Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said that quarantine was useless unless imposed at the right time – before the virus had taken hold – and that the UK had left it too late. Piot reckons the damage to the economy and the travel industry outweighs what’s achieved by making everyone stay at home.

He’s right. The quarantine system will fail in the UK because it relies on trust. An outbreak in Scotland last week was caused by one infected holidaymaker returning from abroad and refusing to self-isolate. There will be many more non-isolators, just as there are thousands of hungry diners taking advantage of Rishi Sunak’s meal deal. Instead of dining in, they are simply taking their burgers out of the premises, and there’s no way of policing them.

Human nature means that quarantine, like test and trace, will never be 100 per cent successful, nor is there any fool-proof way of enforcement, short of interning returnees in designated accommodation. It is just the latest example of desperate thinking from a government team that’s run out of ideas.

They used lockdown to mess with our heads and turn us into frightened creatures too timid to return to work, now they are messing with our holidays, implying that it’s highly risky to go to France or Spain – when I believe it’s more dangerous to spend an evening in an inner city pub surrounded by young people determined to party. According the the World Health Organisation, they are the spreaders, not the sensible oldies.

The government has lurched from one tactic to another, decimating the airline industry and bankrupting travel companies. On 22 May they announced a 14-day quarantine on all arrivals into the UK, which came into force on 8 June to universal outrage from the travel business. On 25 June they offered “air bridges” – safe countries which didn’t require quarantine. By 3 July air bridges were dumped and the Foreign Office issued a list of 75 countries where travel was permitted.

They issued another list of countries which were deemed “safe” – which didn’t match. Confused? On 28 July quarantine for arrivals from Spain was cut from 14 days to 10, perhaps because politicians might eventually be realising it’s an unworkable policy. Nevertheless, because politicians have giant egos, they are still sticking to quarantine as a way of appearing to be doing something (anything) to combat the inevitable slow (and small) rise in coronavirus infections.

The “safe” list of countries you can visit changes every week. Good news, as of this week, is you can visit Latvia and Slovakia. Bad news, a trip to enjoy moules and frites in Belgium means you’ll have to self-isolate on return.

Perhaps Singapore has the answer. From 11 August, arrivals from approved countries will be allowed to self-isolate for 14 days at home or in a hotel as long as they wear an electronic monitoring device. The tag uses 4G or Bluetooth to monitor an individual’s movements – you’re only allowed to leave home to go for a virus test, and the fine for breaking the rules is more than £5,000.

Would it work here? Everyone entering the UK should be tested on arrival. Those with a positive result could be tagged and monitored. But would there be complaints about privacy?