Quarantine - what are our options?

bagand96

I've seen it written a few places online that you can indeed leave England to another country. It makes sense, as a poster on another thread said "The UK is not a prison".

I can't see any straight answer to it on Gov.uk (funny that!) however FullFact.org address this and say you CAN leave the UK again and they have checked this with the Department for Health and Social Care.  Full Fact are a respected fact checking charity so I would think this is legit https://fullfact.org/health/coronavirus-quarantine-guidance/

As others said, you would also need to check if the Portuguese will let you in or impose any quarantine restriction given you've recently been in Malta.

bradders1983

I hope this gives the OP the courage not to cancel. Go and enjoy Portugal. This link suggests there are no restrictions on EU residents...

https://imigrante.sef.pt/en/covid-19/faqs/#1596230931926-35f82bfa-7209

epm-84

bradders1983 said:

epm-84 said:

bradders1983 said:

epm-84 said:

bradders1983 said:

Is there anything in the rules stopping you returning to an airport and flying out of the country within the 14 days?

Yes.  Once you arrive at your designated address for self-isolating there's only very limited reasons which you can leave before the 14 days is up such as a doctor needing to see you in person.  You may be able to get out of the country during the 14 days if a family member has died abroad but I can't see any other loopholes to allow you to leave your home to travel to the airport.

I suspect you are wrong here, there was a recent thread where someone wanted to come to the UK from another country for just a week and it was acertained there was nothing stopping him coming here, going to a house, and then returning to the airport on Day 7 to go home. This is no different in reality. The UK only cares what is coming in, not out.

Would you care to point where that exception is in the government's list? https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-how-to-self-isolate-when-you-travel-to-the-uk/coronavirus-covid-19-how-to-self-isolate-when-you-travel-to-the-uk

The rules are slightly different for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland but for England I can't see any exception for a British national who's got a leisure trip abroad planned within 14 days of returning from a previous one.  In fact it specifically mentions a fine of up to £3200 if you leave your self-isolation address before 14 days is up and you don't provide an alternative address where you can continue your self-isolation (which itself is only allowed in exceptional circumstances.)

"If you’re travelling to the UK for less than 10 days you will need to self-isolate for the length of your stay."

The OP has travelled to the UK from Malta and will be in the UK for less than 10 days. Nowhere on there does it say that rule only applies to non-British nationals. Even if it did, not all British nationals are resident in the UK.

The 10 days bit you quote follows on is part of an example where someone has spent 4 days in an exempt country before arriving in the UK, which is why it mentions 10 days not 14 days, so if it applies it'll be 'for less than 14 days' in this case, not the 10 given in the example.

What it doesn't say is anything about updating the details on your passenger locator form if you said you would remain at an address for 14 days but plan to leave the UK after less than 14 days.

bradders1983

epm-84 said:

bradders1983 said:

epm-84 said:

bradders1983 said:

epm-84 said:

bradders1983 said:

Is there anything in the rules stopping you returning to an airport and flying out of the country within the 14 days?

Yes.  Once you arrive at your designated address for self-isolating there's only very limited reasons which you can leave before the 14 days is up such as a doctor needing to see you in person.  You may be able to get out of the country during the 14 days if a family member has died abroad but I can't see any other loopholes to allow you to leave your home to travel to the airport.

I suspect you are wrong here, there was a recent thread where someone wanted to come to the UK from another country for just a week and it was acertained there was nothing stopping him coming here, going to a house, and then returning to the airport on Day 7 to go home. This is no different in reality. The UK only cares what is coming in, not out.

Would you care to point where that exception is in the government's list? https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-how-to-self-isolate-when-you-travel-to-the-uk/coronavirus-covid-19-how-to-self-isolate-when-you-travel-to-the-uk

The rules are slightly different for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland but for England I can't see any exception for a British national who's got a leisure trip abroad planned within 14 days of returning from a previous one.  In fact it specifically mentions a fine of up to £3200 if you leave your self-isolation address before 14 days is up and you don't provide an alternative address where you can continue your self-isolation (which itself is only allowed in exceptional circumstances.)

"If you’re travelling to the UK for less than 10 days you will need to self-isolate for the length of your stay."

The OP has travelled to the UK from Malta and will be in the UK for less than 10 days. Nowhere on there does it say that rule only applies to non-British nationals. Even if it did, not all British nationals are resident in the UK.

The 10 days bit you quote follows on is part of an example where someone has spent 4 days in an exempt country before arriving in the UK, which is why it mentions 10 days not 14 days, so if it applies it'll be 'for less than 14 days' in this case, not the 10 given in the example.

What it doesn't say is anything about updating the details on your passenger locator form if you said you would remain at an address for 14 days but plan to leave the UK after less than 14 days.

See the Fullfact.org link posted by Bagand96 above.

Doshwaster

The craziness with the rules now mean that if you are currently in Portugal and due to fly back on Friday you would still have to quarantine but if you delay your return 24 hours until Saturday then you won't!

bradders1983

Doshwaster said:

The craziness with the rules now mean that if you are currently in Portugal and due to fly back on Friday you would still have to quarantine but if you delay your return 24 hours until Saturday then you won't!

Not quite...anyone returning on Friday would only have to quarantine until 4am Saturday when the measures are changed. 

sheramber

for the benefit of epm-84
https://fullfact.org/health/coronavirus-quarantine-guidance/

We spoke to the Department for Health and Social Care and it told us that it was possible to travel to another country during your 14 days of self-isolation, provided that you travel there  “directly”.  

It also told us that the rules on how long you had to quarantine for when you returned vary depending on your second destination. This is based on whether the country is on the list of places exempt from quarantine restrictions.

So, for example, if you’ve been to Spain (a country that, at the time of writing, is not on the exempt countries list) you have to quarantine for 14 days upon your return to England. But you could still travel to another country during those 14 days, as long as you went there directly. 

If you went to (say) Germany for two days after spending five days in quarantine, you would only need to spend another seven days in quarantine on your return from Germany because at the moment Germany is on the exempt list. However, if you went to the Netherlands for the same time, you would need to start a new 14 days of quarantine on your return, as the Netherlands is not currently exempt. (These examples are correct at the time of writing on August 19, but may well change in the future as countries are added to and removed from the exempt list.)

epm-84

bradders1983 said:

epm-84 said:

bradders1983 said:

epm-84 said:

bradders1983 said:

epm-84 said:

bradders1983 said:

Is there anything in the rules stopping you returning to an airport and flying out of the country within the 14 days?

Yes.  Once you arrive at your designated address for self-isolating there's only very limited reasons which you can leave before the 14 days is up such as a doctor needing to see you in person.  You may be able to get out of the country during the 14 days if a family member has died abroad but I can't see any other loopholes to allow you to leave your home to travel to the airport.

I suspect you are wrong here, there was a recent thread where someone wanted to come to the UK from another country for just a week and it was acertained there was nothing stopping him coming here, going to a house, and then returning to the airport on Day 7 to go home. This is no different in reality. The UK only cares what is coming in, not out.

Would you care to point where that exception is in the government's list? https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-how-to-self-isolate-when-you-travel-to-the-uk/coronavirus-covid-19-how-to-self-isolate-when-you-travel-to-the-uk

The rules are slightly different for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland but for England I can't see any exception for a British national who's got a leisure trip abroad planned within 14 days of returning from a previous one.  In fact it specifically mentions a fine of up to £3200 if you leave your self-isolation address before 14 days is up and you don't provide an alternative address where you can continue your self-isolation (which itself is only allowed in exceptional circumstances.)

"If you’re travelling to the UK for less than 10 days you will need to self-isolate for the length of your stay."

The OP has travelled to the UK from Malta and will be in the UK for less than 10 days. Nowhere on there does it say that rule only applies to non-British nationals. Even if it did, not all British nationals are resident in the UK.

The 10 days bit you quote follows on is part of an example where someone has spent 4 days in an exempt country before arriving in the UK, which is why it mentions 10 days not 14 days, so if it applies it'll be 'for less than 14 days' in this case, not the 10 given in the example.

What it doesn't say is anything about updating the details on your passenger locator form if you said you would remain at an address for 14 days but plan to leave the UK after less than 14 days.

See the Fullfact.org link posted by Bagand96 above.

That was posted at the time I was writing my post and doesn't actually change what I said - what you said about 'within 10 days' was incorrect as it applied to a specific example where someone had already spent 4 days in an exempt country before arriving in the UK.  That link also doesn't say about how to update a passenger locator form if you told them you were to be in the UK for 14+ days and change your mind before the 14 days is up.  If they phone you up on day 13 and you say "No I'm in Portugal now", will they say "Oh OK" and hang up or start asking questions about why your form doesn't have accurate information on it?

bradders1983

No idea, i suspect given you are out of the country, and the UK is not a prison, they wont give a toss. And the DHSC have said it is fine so I dont see the issue you are trying to drag out here.

epm-84

bradders1983 said:

Doshwaster said:

The craziness with the rules now mean that if you are currently in Portugal and due to fly back on Friday you would still have to quarantine but if you delay your return 24 hours until Saturday then you won't!

Not quite...anyone returning on Friday would only have to quarantine until 4am Saturday when the measures are changed. 

Have they changed it then?  When they lifted restrictions for other countries they said those already self-isolating after returning from said country need to continue self-isolating as for someone whose already been self-isolating for 7 days would have travelled back when the infection rate was higher and symptoms can take up to 14 days to show up.

The crazy thing about the 4am cut off is in theory a flight from Dubrovnik to London could depart within minutes of one from Dubrovnik to Manchester and the London flight might touch down at 03:55, while the Manchester one might touch down at 04:25.