How long will Spain quarantine last and are key workers exempt from self isolating?
27 July 2020, 15:03 | Updated: 27 July 2020, 15:47
A two-week quarantine period has been put in place for anyone travelling back from Spain to the UK, but what are the rules?
Spain has been removed from the UK's 'safe travel' list after the country saw a spike in COVID-19 cases.
Ministers announced this week anyone returning home to the UK from Spain will now have to quarantine for 14 days in order to stop a second wave of the virus coming to Britain.
In England, people are being fined £1,000 if they do not follow the new rules, with Scotland charging £480 for the same offence and £1,920 in Wales for not providing accurate information.
READ MORE: Martin Lewis issues urgent travel advice for those going on holiday to Spain
What are the new Spain quarantine rules and how long will they last?
Anyone travelling back to the UK from Spain is required to quarantine for 14 days.
When travellers arrive back in the UK from Spain, they will be asked to provide contact details, and the address of where they will be staying to quarantine.
They will then be told to go back home or to their quarantining accommodation, avoiding public transport if possible.
During the two-week quarantine period, people should not leave the house, even for exercise.
They should not go into school or work, and should get food delivered instead of going out to do shopping.
You can leave the house to get food – if there is no other way to buy groceries – and you can also leave for urgent medical assistance, to go to court or to a funeral.
You should not have anyone over to visit you while you are quarantining.
At the moment, it is unclear when the country will be back on the UK's 'safe travel' list and how long the quarantining rules will be in place.
Are key workers except for 14 days quarantine?
No, key workers are not exempt from quarantining.
The main exceptions from the two-week isolation period are for people who have been travelling for Government reasons.
Labour has called for support to those people having to quarantine after coming back from Spain, explaining that some companies may not let their employees work from home for two weeks.
However, at the moment, the only people exempt from not following the quarantining rules are:
- Quality assurance inspectors for human and veterinary medicines
- People who are transporting material which consists of, or includes, human cells or blood for the purpose of providing healthcare
- Registered health or care professionals moving to the UK to provide essential healthcare
- Individuals arriving to attend pre-arranged medical treatment
- Postal workers involved in the transport of mail into and out of the UK
- Seasonal agricultural workers
- Pilots and cabin crew
- Seamen and fishermen
- Eurostar and Channel Tunnel workers
- Drivers of goods vehicles or public service vehicles (such as coaches)
- Civil aviation inspectors (if they are travelling in a professional capacity)
- People who live in the UK but work outside the UK, and travel internationally at least once a week
- Crown servants or government contractors travelling to the UK for essential government work
- People travelling internationally to escort prisoners
- People engaged in urgent or essential work for the BBC
- People involved with running, or participating in, clinical trials
- Defence personnel
- Representatives of a foreign country or diplomats travelling to the UK on essential business
