Thousands of Brits across the country may be flouting quarantine rules and not self-isolating after returning from trips abroad

Thousands of Brits across the country may be flouting quarantine rules and not self-isolating after returning from trips abroad.  

The Metropolitan Police has received more than 1,000 referrals to carry out quarantine checks to make sure that returned holidaymakers are self-isolating.  

And experts have warned that if Brits don’t stick to the rules laid out by the Government then a country-wide lockdown could well be enforced. 

Requests for ‘further action’ have been raised by Border Force officials and Public Health England. 

It comes after Boris Johnson yesterday defied a huge Tory backlash to insist coronavirus testing on arrival at airports would only give a ‘false sense of security’. 

MPs voiced frustration as Mr Johnson again poured cold water on the idea, despite desperate pleas to reform the Government’s blanket travel quarantine policy in order to prevent the ‘demise’ of the aviation sector. 

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps suggested he was looking at a two-step testing system to reduce quarantine to ‘perhaps seven or eight days’. However he warned it was not a ‘silver bullet’ for air travel.

In return, industry leaders accused the Government of ‘completely disengaging’.

They claimed ministers had cancelled all meetings on the issue two weeks ago and had failed to properly analyse data from the dozens of countries using airport testing.

Henry Smith, whose constituency includes Gatwick, led the Tory anger, saying: ‘We are supposed to be looking to be global Britain and yet we are at a competitive disadvantage to those countries like Germany, like France, that are testing passengers.

‘I would urge the Government to reconsider.

That is a very important part of public health confidence, confidence in flying and competitiveness of the UK economy.’

Senior Tories Patrick McLoughlin, Iain Duncan Smith, Jeremy Hunt and Damian Green all also support testing. As Labour demanded a rapid review of the ‘chaotic’ self-isolation scheme:

• Ryanair threw its support behind the Mail’s testing campaign while Rolls-Royce and Airbus warned thousands of jobs were at stake;
• Virgin Atlantic said it would cut 1,150 more jobs and Heathrow boss John Holland-Kaye warned of an ‘unemployment pandemic’;
• Pilots union Balpa said the Government’s response was ‘lamentable’ and wrote to Mr Shapps to demand airport testing;
• Airlines UK said quarantine had led to the worst year for British aviation in three decades;
• Economists said the restrictions were costing the economy £650million a week.

But Heathrow’s testing site, a football pitch-sized room, has stayed mostly empty since its creation.  

The testing area, equipped with 24 sterile booths, allows returning travellers to pay £100 for a quick swab test. 

Results will be emailed to them in roughly seven hours.

A second swab test, in a DIY kit which they take home with them, is carried out a few days later.  

The Heathrow facility is similar to those currently operating at airports in Germany, Iceland and many other European nations.

It has been designed to allow arrivals from red-listed countries such as France and Spain to return to normal life (and their workplace) without having to spend two long weeks twiddling their thumbs. 

However, on a visit to Solihull in the West Midlands, Mr Johnson said a single test on arrival would detect only 7 per cent of cases, adding: ‘So 93 per cent of the time you could have a real false sense of security, a false sense of confidence when you arrive and take a test.

‘That’s why the quarantine system that we have has got to be an important part of our repertoire, of our toolbox, in fighting Covid.’

Industry leaders said this disregarded official research suggesting a second test after five days would catch 85 per cent of cases, and 96 per cent after eight days.

Former Brexit Secretary Mr Davis claimed the quarantine policy had been based on ‘guesswork from the beginning’.

‘If you have to have a quarantine, you can reduce your timescale to less than five days,’ he told the BBC’s Week in Westminster.

‘For most people, it’s manageable.

But two weeks for a factory worker or two weeks for somebody who works in a garage, who works as a salesman or saleswoman and in a store, that’s crippling for many of my less well-off constituents.’

Mr Grayling, a former transport secretary, told the Commons: ‘The industry is suffering badly in the current crisis, and the level of job losses is profoundly concerning.

It is really important that we get the transatlantic routes going again.’

Mr Maynard, who was the aviation minister until February, said: ‘The Government needs to introduce testing. Quarantine is causing immense complications for holidaymakers and the travel sector and I congratulate the Daily Mail for leading the charge on this issue.’

Another former aviation minister, Miss Villiers, said: ‘There is great anxiety among Conservative backbenchers because we know so many businesses in our constituencies will go under without support for aviation.’

The Mail’s call for airport testing has received the backing of almost every airline and airport boss in the country.

The Department for Transport is also being lobbied by US businesses and airlines desperate to reopen ‘economic artery’ routes across the Atlantic.  

A professor of environmental engineering at Leeds University and a member of the government’s Sage (Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies) committee warned that the UK is at a pivotal point. 

Catherine Noakes told : ‘We are at a point where there’s a risk that wider transmission of Covid could increase again. 

Transmission depends of the amount of contact between people, and with schools and universities returning and many more people going back to work, the level of interactions in communities is likely to increase.’ 

The stern warning came as it was revealed that a further 1,940 people were infected with coronavirus as of yesterday – the highest daily number since May.  

The Metropolitan police told The Guardian it had received more than 1,000 referrals since the beginning of August for quarantine checks to be carried out.

Officers have so far visited 840 people who should be quarantining after returning from abroad.

They are planning to visit another 301 travellers who have recently returned.  

And experts have warned that if Brits don’t stick to the rules laid out by the Government then a country-wide lockdown could well be enforced. Pictured: A traveller arrives at Heathrow airport on August 22

Greater Manchester police said its officers had received 263 quarantine referrals. 

And officers said they had also issued two fixed penalty notices in relation to people repeatedly breaching the self-isolation regulations.

Ms Noakes added: ‘It’s crucial that we don’t allow cases to rise so we can avoid more widespread restrictions again. This means that people should keep maintaining social distance, washing hands, wearing a face covering in indoor public spaces and making sure that shared spaces in buildings are well ventilated.’

A member of Sage, who asked not to be named, told The Guardian that they were unsure why the UK hasn’t yet seen a spike in cases like France or Spain but guessed it would probably come soon.