According to a Good Morning Britain poll, about 35 percent of Brits say they won’t strictly follow their government’s insistence that total isolation at home is necessary after returning from some holiday spots.
The UK has adopted a traffic lights system in which all countries are graded green, amber or red. The vast majority of countries are graded amber – including European favourites such as Greece and Spain as well as Thailand – and returnees have to promise self-quarantine in their home for up to 10 days.
But the poll suggests that many won’t keep their promise, mostly on the grounds that they have to have a virus health check before being allowed back in any case. The poll supports other research in the United States that voluntary quarantine is not reliable because people cheat. Thailand currently requires all arriving passengers to stay at their own expense in a quarantine hotel for 15 nights.
British authorities say that they will enforce the self-quarantine by sudden phone calls and visits by a privately-run enforcement brigade with support from the police as and when necessary. But many Brits are circumspect about the effectiveness of the scheme. “You can always say you didn’t hear the phone ring or the door bell was out of order,” confided one would-be miscreant who might be risking a hefty fine.
Thailand, which is desperate to save its international vacation market, has announced that fully vaccinated visitors will be able to visit some holiday hotspots, including Phuket and Pattaya, in a staged adoption program whose precise details are still under wraps.
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