The British health department reported on Thursday that there were 20,634 new cases of the coronavirus (COVID-19) and 915 deaths in the United Kingdom. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that the British government would begin implementing stricter quarantine requirements including an “Accommodation Quarantine Requirement” for persons entering the country. The strict quarantine measures are being implemented in an effort to curtail the spread of new mutations of the COVID-19 virus currently identified in the UK, South Africa and other countries.
The British health department issued requests to hotels near ports and airports asking for proposals on how they can support the government’s plan for mandatory quarantines. UK health officials confirmed on Friday that anyone arriving from a country on the U.K’s travel ban list will be required to quarantine in a government-managed facility. The person would be required to stay in the quarantine facility for 10 days. According to usnews.com, the government-ran quarantine facilities would open next week. UK health officials say British and Irish citizens and other residents are required to self-isolate themselves at home for 10 days.
Britain health officials recently contradicted The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines for COVID-19 vaccines and authorized the use of “mix-and-match”vaccinations. Under Britain’s revised guidelines, a different COVID vaccine can be administered when the second dose of the initial COVID vaccine is unavailable.
Some scientists say Britain is gambling with its new guidance. “There are no data on this idea whatsoever,” said John Moore, a vaccine expert at Cornell University. Britain “seem to have abandoned science completely now and are just trying to guess their way out of a mess” 10.49 million people have been administered a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, with nearly 502,000 receiving their second dose as of last Wednesday according to usnews.com.
