LONDON: A British couple have been fined £10,000 ($13,945) each after they returned to the UK from a holiday in Dubai and failed to quarantine.
Police said the pair tried to avoid travel rules put in place to stop the spread of coronavirus by taking an indirect route back from Dubai, which is on the UK’s “red list” of restricted destinations.
Merseyside Police Chief Inspector Chris Barnes said the duo had been transported to a designated quarantine hotel on Feb. 26 following the fines.
“Strict rules around international travel have been put in place by the government for a reason, and to disregard them in this way is selfish, inconsiderate, and potentially dangerous,” he added.
“Currently, the regulations mean that if you are a British or Irish national, or you have residence rights in the UK and are returning from a country on the foreign travel ‘red list,’ you must quarantine in a government-approved hotel for 10 days,” he said.
“If you are required to quarantine at a hotel, you can only arrive in England at certain ports of entry. In this instance, the pair in question avoided a direct flight route back from Dubai to one of the specified airports in an attempt to evade this process.”
