Source::AP
LONDON,
Britain’s newly established quarantine hotels received their first guests on Monday as the government tries to prevent new coronavirus variants from derailing a fast-moving vaccination drive that has delivered more than 15 million shots in ten weeks.
Passengers arriving at London’s Heathrow Airport were escorted by security guards to buses that took them to nearby hotels. Some of the travelers said they had tried and failed to make it to Britain before Monday to avoid the quarantine.
Under the new rules, residents of the U.K. and Ireland arriving in England from 33 high-risk countries must stay in designated hotels for 10 days at their own expense, with meals delivered to their door. In Scotland the rule applies to arrivals from any country.
International travel has already been sharply curbed by the pandemic and Britons are currently barred from going on overseas vacations.
Critics, however, say Britain’s quarantine hotels are being set up too late, with the South African variant already circulating in the U.K.
Visiting a London vaccination center on Monday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson praised the “unbelievable effort” by scientists, medics, pharmacists, members of the military and volunteers that had achieved Europe’s fastest vaccine rollout.
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