LONDON (AP) – The newly established quarantine hotels in Britain received their first guests on Monday as the government tried to prevent new coronavirus variants from rapidly derailing a vaccination rate that yielded more than 15 million shots within ten weeks.
Passengers arriving at London Heathrow Airport were escorted by security guards to buses that took them to nearby hotels.
Some of the travelers said they had tried to reach Britain before Monday to avoid the quarantine.
Zari Tadayon, who flew from Dubai to Heathrow and was taken to the Radisson Blu Edwardian Hotel near the airport, said she hoped she could be quarantined at her home in London. She said she felt ‘terrible’ about the 10-day hotel stay.
“I do not know how I will cope. It will be difficult, ”she said.
Britain has given a first dose of coronavirus vaccine to almost a quarter of its population, but health officials are worried that vaccines may not work as well on some new strains of the virus, including one first introduced in South Africa has been identified.
Under the new rules, UK and Ireland residents arriving from 33 high-risk countries in England must stay at designated hotels for ten days at their own expense with meals on the doorstep. In Scotland, the rule applies to arrivals from any country.
International travel has already been severely curtailed by the pandemic, and Britons are currently unable to go on holiday overseas.
However, critics say Britain’s quarantine hotels are being introduced too late, with the South African variant already spreading in the UK.
Nick Thomas-Symonds, spokesman for the border and immigration of the main opposition Labor Party, said reports from passengers from countries mingling with “red zone” planes and at the airport with others showed that the government’s quarantine policy is ‘half baked’.
The Conservative government on Sunday achieved its goal of giving the first of two doses of vaccine to 15 million of Britain’s most vulnerable people, including health workers and people over 70.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday visited a vaccination center in London and praised the “incredible effort” by scientists, medics, pharmacists, members of the military and volunteers who have achieved the fastest vaccination in Europe.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the vaccine is now being extended to people over 65 and those with underlying health conditions. The government aims to give everyone over 50 their first vaccine shot by the end of April and vaccinate the entire adult population by September.
Simon Stevens, chief executive of the National Health Service in England, warned that the national vaccination campaign consisted of ‘two sprints and a marathon, (and) we have just reached the end of the first sprint.’ He said there were months of vaccinations ahead, and possibly booster shots against new variants.
Britain had the worst outbreak of coronavirus in Europe, with more than 117,000 deaths, although infections and deaths are now gradually declining after more than a month of national exclusion. On Monday, the United Kingdom recorded 9,765 new cases, the first time since October 2 it was less than 10,000. 230 new deaths have been recorded, almost a third less than a week ago.
The government says it will announce a “road map” on February 22 to facilitate the closure.
Johnson is under pressure from some members of his ruling Conservative party to lift the closure soon so businesses can reopen and people can visit friends and family.
The prime minister, who is accused of being too slow to shut down Britain this past spring and then too quick to ease restrictions during the summer, is now a more measured tone.
“Although the vaccination program is progressing well, we do not yet have enough data on the exact efficacy of the vaccines to reduce the spread of infection,” Johnson told a news conference.
“We have to be both optimistic but also patient,” he said. “Because we want this exclusion to be the last.”
___
Pan Pylas in London contributed to this story.
___
Follow all AP pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic, https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus- vaccination and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak