Covid-19: PM urges optimistic but patient approach, and travellers describe hotel quarantine

The first travelers required to stay in quarantine hotels have arrived at Heathrow Airport today. All British and Irish citizens, as well as UK residents, who come to England after staying in one of the 33 high-risk Covid countries are now required to self-isolate in hotels. The new regulations, which aim to prevent the entry of Covid variants into the country, apply to arrivals who have been in a “Red List” country in the last 10 days. A traveler who was just quarantined at the Radisson Blu Edwardian Hotel near Heathrow Airport said he was “sad” at the prospect of isolation. Roger Goncalves, 23, from Belo Horizonte, Brazil, said: “I took my test for coronavirus. The test was negative. Why do I have to stay in my room for 10 days?”