Travellers returning from ‘red list’ countries who test positive for coronavirus during their compulsory 10 days stay in a quarantine hotel face an additional £1,200 bill.
All arrivals in England from 33 banned countries must book a stay in Government-approved accommodation at an initial cost of £1,750.
However, people who test positive for the disease will be forced to extend their stay and they must pick up the tab for the additional days spent in self-isolation.
The additional daily rate has been set at £152 and it was only published on the Government’s website on Monday, after some guests had already checked in.
Guests must take two tests during their stay, one on day two and one on day eight, and they can leave when they receive a negative result and once they have quarantined for 10 full days.
But a positive result from the first test will extend a traveller’s stay by two nights at an additional cost of £304.
If the second test returns a positive reading, the guest must remain in their room for an additional eight nights, paying an extra £1,216. It means that some travellers could end up with a final bill of almost £3,000.
Boris Johnson said yesterday at a Downing Street press conference that the Government ‘would expect people who are coming in from one of these red list countries to be able to cover their costs’ as he stressed that it is currently illegal to travel abroad for holidays.