Boris Johnson is expected to announce tomorrow that Britons embarking on foreign holidays this summer, will be forced to quarantine for up to 14 days in a hotel when they return and at their own expense. Cabinet sources tipped off the UK press last night that the Prime Minister will sign off on a comprehensive proposal that will see all arrivals sent to airport hotels, regardless of their nationality and where they have come from. It’s being called the Australian model. The Australian government is currently only permitting Australian citizens and their extended families into the country and no-one else. Everyone must quarantine upon arrival. 
Johnson’s scheme would mean that Britons will have to pay extra, on top of the cost of their trip, to spend their quarantine period in a hotel, which will be patrolled by security guards. Paul Charles, chief executive of travel company The PC Agency, told the Daily Mail: “This is destroying confidence among holidaymakers. ‘People are not booking summer holidays because they don’t believe there is an end game which will see these blanket measures removed. This is a sure-fire way of destroying Britain’s aviation and travel industries.”
Yesterday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock called for a blanket ban on all arrivals to the UK. He said he was most concerned about the Covid strains that “we are not yet aware of”, while discussing the so-called South African and Brazilian variants on SKY News. This morning, travel company bosses and epidemiologist’s, speaking on UK television and radio are all in agreement that when it comes to travelling abroad things will never be the same again. Everyone will need to have a vaccination passport as well as their standard passport in order to board a plane. It’s a brave new world.
