“We are coming down hard on people who provide false information on the passenger locator form”
Travellers who hide the fact that they are arriving in the UK from a Covid “red list” destination will face up to ten years in prison, Matt Hancock has said.
The health secretary made the announcement in House of Commons, as part of a crackdown on arrivals giving incorrect information at the UK’s borders.
“We are coming down hard on people who provide false information on the passenger locator form,” Matt Hancock told MPs.
“Anyone who lies on the passenger locator form and tries to conceal that they have been in a country on the ‘red list’ in the ten days before arrival here, will face a prison sentence of up to ten years.”
The health secretary also outlined a list of tough new fines to help curb the rise of Covid-19 variants. These include:
- £1,000 fine for international arrivals who fail to take a Covid test.
- £2,000 fine for international arrivals who fail to take the second test, with their quarantine period extended by another 14 days.
- £5,000 fixed penalty notice, rising to £10,000 for failing to quarantine in an assigned hotel.
The “red list” is the list of countries from which travel from to the UK is currently banned. UK nationals returning from these destinations have to self-isolate for 10 upon arrival.
The current list of countries is Angola, Argentina, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Burundi, Cape Verde, Chile, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, Eswatini, French Guiana, Guyana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal (including Madeira and the Azores), Rwanda, Seychelles, South Africa, Suriname, Tanzania, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Venezuela, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
