- a British national
- an Irish national
- anyone with residence rights in the UK
- quarantine for 10 days in a managed quarantine hotel
- take a coronavirus (COVID-19) test on or before day 2 and on or after day 8 of quarantining
- follow the national lockdown rules
Hotel quarantine: what it is
Everyone who arrives into England must quarantine for 10 days from the point of their arrival. The day of arrival in England will be treated as day zero. To stop the spread of potentially harmful variants into the UK, more stringent measures are in place for people who have travelled from or passed through a country on the list where travel to the UK is banned (the ‘red list’) in the last 10 days before arrival. From 15 February, you must quarantine in a managed quarantine hotel if you’ve travelled from or passed through a country on the list where travel to the UK is banned.Who has to go into hotel quarantine
If you are a British or Irish national, or third country national with residence rights in the UK and you have been in or passed through a red-list country in the 10 days before your arrival, you will need to quarantine in a managed quarantine hotel, unless you’re exempt. Travellers from countries not on the ‘red list’ must follow the guidance set out here.What you need to do before you arrive in England
Before you travel you must:- take a coronavirus (COVID-19) test and get a negative result during the 3 days before you travel. You must take the test in the 3 days before the service on which you will arrive in England departs. For example, if you travel directly to England on Friday, you must take the test on the Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday
- book a managed quarantine hotel where you will quarantine. Your quarantine package will include your managed quarantine hotel, quarantine transport and your travel test package for COVID-19 tests on day 2 and day 8 of quarantine
- complete a passenger locator form with details of where you will quarantine when you arrive. You must provide a quarantine package booking reference number to complete your passenger locator form
Due to a minor technical issue, the link to the booking portal in this guidance will not be available until later today. Please return to this page later if you wish to make a booking.
You will need to agree to pay for, and book, a quarantine package before you complete your passenger locator form (PLF) and board your return journey to the UK.
The package includes the costs of transport from the port of arrival to the designated hotel, food, accommodation, security, other essential services and testing.
Rate | |
---|---|
Rate for 1 adult in 1 room for 10 days (11 nights) | £1750 |
Additional rate for 1 adult (or child over 12) | £650 |
Additional rate for a child aged 5–12 | £325 |
Where you can arrive
If you’re required to quarantine in a quarantine hotel you can only arrive in England at certain ports of entry. Currently these are:- Heathrow Airport
- Gatwick Airport
- London City Airport
- Birmingham Airport
- Farnborough Airfield
Arriving and transporting to a managed quarantine hotel
When you arrive in England you will need to provide your completed passenger locator form to Border Force officers alongside your passport and negative COVID-19 test result. You will be escorted through the airport with other passengers who need to quarantine at a managed quarantine hotel. Your ‘quarantine package’ includes transport to your quarantine hotel (and back to the airport at the end of your quarantine). You must only travel to your managed quarantine hotel by the transport specified in your quarantine package and not by public or private transport. At the end of the quarantine period you will be transported to the airport you were collected from when you arrived in England.Quarantining in a managed quarantine hotel
When you arrive at the managed quarantine hotel you will be required to quarantine in your room for 10 days. The managed quarantine hotel will provide your meals. It is not possible to select a particular room at the managed quarantine hotel or to seek a higher standard room upon arrival. You can quarantine with the people you travelled with and hotels will prioritise allocating larger or connecting rooms to families. If you’re the parent or guardian of an unaccompanied child arriving in England, you can join your child in quarantine. You cannot have visitors in quarantine, including friends or family, unless they are providing:- emergency assistance
- care or assistance, including personal care
- medical assistance
- veterinary services
- certain critical public services
- to travel directly to leave the Common Travel Area
- to fulfil a legal obligation including attending court or satisfying bail conditions or to participate in legal proceedings
- to exercise but only with special permission from hotel staff or security. This is not guaranteed
- in exceptional circumstances, such as:
- seeking medical assistance where this is required urgently or on the advice of a registered medical practitioner
- to avoid injury, illness or escape a risk of harm (for example situations such as fire or flooding, or cases where domestic abuse occurs within a group quarantining together)
- to access critical public services including social services or services provided to victims (for example critical access such as for a child to see their social worker)
- to access veterinary services where required urgently or on the advice of a veterinary surgeon (no animals other than guide dogs would be in a hotel quarantine)
Testing
You will need to take a COVID-19 test on or before day 2. This first test is designed to help identify any potentially harmful variants of COVID-19 at the earliest opportunity. You will not be allowed to shorten your quarantine period if you receive a negative test result, as you may still develop COVID-19. Tests will be taken in your own accommodation. If you receive a positive test result on day 2, you must quarantine until day 12. If you are in quarantine with people you have travelled with, they will also need to quarantine until day 12. If you receive a positive result for your day 2 test, you will not be required to take any further tests. You will also need to take a COVID-19 test on or after day 8. If you receive a positive test result on day 8 you will be required to quarantine until day 18. You will not be able to end your managed quarantine early through the Test to Release scheme. Children under 5 will not be required to take the day 2 or day 8 test You should order a test here if you develop at least one of these 3 coronavirus (COVID-19) symptoms at any point:- a high temperature
- a new, continuous cough
- you’ve lost your sense of smell or taste or it’s changed
- person A: receives a positive test result on day 2 so must quarantine to day 12 (no day 8 test)
- person B: needs to quarantine until day 12 also as a close contact of person A. If they are negative on day 2 they are still required to take a day-8 test. Person B receives a positive test result on day 8 so they will need to quarantine to day 18
- person C: Needs to quarantine until day 12 also as a close contact of person A. If negative on day-2 test, they are still required to take a day-8 test. They receive a negative day-8 test result. Person C still needs to quarantine to day 18 as they are a contact of person B as well as of person A
Leaving managed quarantine
You will be able to leave quarantine when you have received a negative result from your day 8 test and have quarantined for 10 full days. If you receive a positive result from either of your tests, you will not be able to leave managed quarantine until 10 days have passed from the date of the test. If, despite a negative test on day 8, you develop new coronavirus symptoms on day 9 or day 10, this would trigger a further test and extended quarantine for 10 days, if the new test is positive.Exemptions
A very small proportion of people arriving in England who have visited or passed through a red-list country will not need to quarantine in a managed quarantine hotel or in private accommodation. The full list of exemptions to managed quarantine is set out below.Hauliers travelling from Portugal
Hauliers travelling from Portugal are permitted to travel to England and are exempt from managed quarantine. You need to complete the passenger locator form before you travel to England. You do not need to take a coronavirus test before you travel to England. You’ll need to show that your travel is part of your job, for example a letter from your employer, a consignment note or your operator’s licence. This applies to: Drivers of goods vehicles and other employees of community licence holders for the international carriage of goods who have been in Portugal in the 10 days prior to their arrival in England.Defence personnel, visiting forces and government contractors
You do not need to complete the passenger locator form or to quarantine – either in a managed quarantine hotel or in private accommodation. You will be exempt from the need to present a negative COVID-19 result test prior to departure, where it is impractical to get a test. You’ll need to apply for a letter from the Ministry of Defence confirming you are exempt. You’ll need to show this letter to officials at border control on entry to England. Applies to: Defence personnel, visiting forces and government contractors who the Ministry of Defence has confirmed are required to deliver essential defence activities. You’re required to follow all requirements when not conducting defence duties.Border security duties – UK officials and contractors
You do not need to present a negative COVID-19 result test prior to departure. You do not need to complete the passenger locator form or quarantine – either in a managed quarantine hotel or in private accommodation – if you’re either:- required to undertake essential government work related to the UK border in the UK during the period which, but for this exemption, you would need to self-isolate
- undertaking essential government work related to the UK border outside of the UK but required to come back to England temporarily before departing the UK to again undertake essential government work related to the border
Border security duties – non-UK officials and contractors
You do not need to present a negative COVID-19 result test prior to departure. You do not need to complete the passenger locator form or quarantine – either in a managed quarantine hotel or in private accommodation – if you’re either:- an official or contractor of a foreign government, required to travel to England to undertake essential border security duties
- in possession of a written notice signed by a senior member of your government confirming that you’re required to undertake essential border security duties in the UK during the period which, but for this exemption, you would need to self-isolate, and that that work cannot be undertaken while the person is complying with regulation 4
- your deployment is pursuant to a standing bilateral or multilateral agreement with the UK government on the operation of the border controls within the UK
International escorts undertaking extradition work
You need to complete the passenger locator form before you travel to England. You need to take a coronavirus test before you travel to England. You do not need to quarantine – either in a managed quarantine hotel or in private accommodation. Applies to: Foreign police officers entering England in order to escort a surrendered person out of England.Crown servants or government contractors
This exemption only applies to those certified by a department of the UK government as meeting the criteria set out below. You’ll need to complete the passenger locator form before you travel to England. You will not need to quarantine – either in a managed quarantine hotel or in private accommodation – if a relevant department of the UK government has certified that you are:- a crown servant or government contractor travelling to England for essential government work, or
- returning from conducting essential state business outside of the England, or
- returning to England where this is necessary to facilitate the functioning of a diplomatic mission or consular post of Her Majesty or of a military/other official posting on behalf of Her Majesty
Exemption from coronavirus testing before entering England
You will be exempt from the need to present a negative COVID-19 result test prior to departure where you have been certified by a department of the UK government department as meeting the criteria set out below:- a crown servant or government contractor travelling to England for essential government work in the UK or is returning from conducting such work outside the UK
- a person returning from conducting essential state business outside of the UK
- a person returning from undertaking essential or emergency work outside of the UK, which has been certified by the relevant department as necessary to facilitate essential government work, or essential state business