Quarantine question

[collywobble]

I have seen a post on Facebook from someone stating they are returning from Dubai after a stopover in the Maldives to avoid quarantine. Is the government able to do checks to ensure this kind of irresponsible behaviour is not permitted. It seems a massive flaw in the quarantine system if this is the case .

are the Maldives a rich country that can handle lots of 'Rona? Or do they need tourist $$ so much they have to take the risks.

People have been fined so there must be some way of finding out. At one point I thought when a passport is scanned at immigration recent travel would come up but that can't be the case. It's a pretty risky thing to do -the fine is huge. Maybe randomly people are asked for proof that they have been where their passenger locator form says they have been and when they can't produce that evidence there is some way of tracking the passport.

Depends on how long the stopover is for.

If they are holidaying in Dubai and the Maldives they can probably afford the fine if they get one. Bold of them to post it on Facebook though with all the covid police about.

Luisa Zisman did this recently and was saying as long as you stay in the Maldives for a certain number of days then it's perfectly allowed. Just because it's allowed doesn't mean it's right mind you!

They would have to stay in a non red list country for 10 days for hotel quarantine in the UK not to be required so that would rule out the option for most people. It could also depend on the requirements of the country being used as a third country, many would have a 14 day stay requirement. The OP said stopover which is generally not a term used for at least a 10 day stay.

Yes the term used was a stopover to avoid quarantine in the uk.

I’ve heard a 10 day stay avoids quarantine and is cheaper and more pleasant than quarantine.

Turkey is a popular 10 day break on the way back from Pakistan for e.g.

@TheTeenageYears

They would have to stay in a non red list country for 10 days for hotel quarantine in the UK not to be required so that would rule out the option for most people. It could also depend on the requirements of the country being used as a third country, many would have a 14 day stay requirement. The OP said stopover which is generally not a term used for at least a 10 day stay.

This is correct. You are asked about your movements for the past 10 days. A stopover of a day or so would not allow you to enter the UK without quarantine.

It's one of the reasons why the UK 'quarantine' is a farce (and why we had to have long domestic lockdowns instead). Real quarantine means all international arrivals hotel quarantine.

I believe you need to declare where you've been the last 10 days. Scanning a passport might prove where you have been but not everywhere scans passports. I'm sure some people get away with it by lying but I've definitely heard of some people getting significant fines by coming back from dubai via a third country to hopefully avoid the hotel quarantine. Not sure if they did actually end up in hotel quarantine though.