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Britons have been urged not to travel to tourist hotspots over next week's half-term holiday, with police warning of steep fines for those making unnecessary trips.
"We are in lockdown. We are closed. Please, please do not come," said Alistair Handyside, South West Tourism Alliance chairman.
Police forces in England's popular south-west regions have also issued messages reminding people of lockdown rules: "Stay local, Devon and Cornwall will become you back soon," tweeted the Devon and Cornwall police.
Video: What are the new rules for travel? (PA Media)
What are the new rules for travel?
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Sally Everton, director of Visit Devon, said the tourism board supports the police message: "We are very much in the government's hands and as things stand people have to stay away."
Meanwhile, Dorset's police chief said that people could be fined hundreds of pounds for travelling to Dorset's beauty spots during the half-term break, which runs from February 15-19.
James Vaughan, Dorset's chief constable, said staying local does not mean "travelling for over 100 miles from out of the county to visit Dorset's beaches, countryside or beauty spots [...] If people are found to have travelled unnecessarily and in blatant breach of the rules, they could be handed a £200 fine and turned around".
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10:00 AMCountries could be added to travel 'red list' at short notice
Travel to 33 countries is currently banned and government sources have confirmed that new nations could be added to the UK's travel 'red list' with just a few hours notice.
All travellers arriving to the UK from countries on the list will be required to enter quarantine in a hotel at a cost of £1.750 per person.
Ministers will act "at a moment's notice" if new variants are reported in countries not on the list, a government source told The Times. Another said countries would be added "within a few hours if necessary".
09:49 AMUK's hotel quarantine scheme is 'very risky,' warns leading Australian epidemiologist
Britain's lax hotel quarantine allowing self-isolating passengers to leave their rooms is "very risky," says a leading Australian epidemiologist who helped craft his country's regime.
Professor Mike Toole, deputy director of Melbourne's Burnet Institute, warned that such concessions to quarantining passengers could lead to an outbreak through transmission of the virus via tiny aerosol particles.
He said the Australians had learned their lessons to restrict all quarantining passengers to their rooms 24/7 after an outbreak when a guest opened their door and a "fog of virus" spread down a corridor and infected hotel staff.
Under the UK rules and despite the risk, passengers will, however, be allowed out of their rooms for exercise or to smoke "with special permission from hotel staff or security."
Read the full story.
09:47 AMProtests held against Tokyo Olympics
Protests for the Tokyo Olympics to be cancelled were held in the city on Friday.
© Gettyprotesters - Getty
Olympics chief Yoshiro Mori stepped down today after sexist comments sparked calls for his resignation, leaving the Olympics organisers leaderless with five months to the Games.
Polls have indicated that a large percentage of Japanese people oppose holding the postponed Olympics this summer amid the pandemic.
09:35 AMOnly one in 20 adults confident of summer holidays abroad, poll suggests
Just 5 per cent of Britons are confident they will be able to travel overseas by summer, according to the latest YouGov research.
The snap poll followed statements from Government ministers against planning holidays including that it is "too soon to book" and that "it's illegal to travel now". The findings of the summer holiday confidence survey of 5,000 UK adults (conducted on Thursday) include:
- More than four out five (83%) said they were not confident
- One in 10 adults had booked a UK holiday for this year
- 7 per cent had booked an overseas holiday for 2021
09:25 AMMinister defends quarantine hotels policy after outbreak in Australia
A minister has defended the use of quarantine hotels, following the outbreak of the UK variant in an Australian hotel.
A fresh Covid-19 cluster reached 13 cases as of Thursday midnight, as Melbourne authorities rushed to quash the spread of the virus.
Victoria Aitkins, the Home Office minister, told Radio 4's Today programme: "We have looked very carefully at this [policy] - you will appreciate this is a very fast evolving story.
"We can only look at the data we have in front of us, and we are satisfied these quarantining rules are the way in which we can help to control the spread of variants.
"But the first and most fundamental rule is that you should not be travelling abroad... unless you have an essential reason for doing."
09:13 AMWelsh tourism industry in talks with Govt. about 'what might be possible' for Easter
The Welsh Government can "see a path into the spring", with talks taking place about "what might be possible" for Easter, Mark Drakeford has said.
© Getty Llanddwyn Island on Anglesey - Getty
The First Minister told BBC Breakfast: "Here in Wales, numbers of people infected with coronavirus continue to go down. If that can be sustained over the weeks to come then we can see a pathway into the spring in which we will be able to restore freedoms to people that they've had to go without while we've been in this second wave."
However he warned there were "so many unknowns", with new variants occurring all over the world "that could make a difference here in the United Kingdom".
"But with vaccination, and with numbers falling, provided we reopen society carefully and cautiously and don't allow the virus to get away from us again, we can see a path into the spring where it will be possible for us to go back to doing some of the things that we're all missing so much."
Easter was an "important moment" for the tourism and hospitality industry in Wales and the Government was "talking with them about what might be possible", he added.
09:05 AMLastminute.com faces legal action for failing to refund customers
Lastminute.com will face legal action unless it repays over £1 million to customers after their package holidays were cancelled, according to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
The travel company had formally agreed to pay out over £7 million to more than 9,000 customers when their holidays were cancelled due to the pandemic, the CMA announced in December. All those affected were due to get their money back by 31 January 2021 at the latest, however, Lastminute.com still owes over £1 million to 2,600 customers.
The company has also failed to meet its ongoing commitment to repay all customers entitled to a refund within 14 days of their package holiday being cancelled on or after December 3 2020. It also told some package holiday customers to go directly to their airline to get the cost of their flight back, which is in breach of its commitments and against its obligations under the Package Travel Regulations.
The CMA has informed Lastminute.com that it will take court action if it does not repay the outstanding refunds within seven days.
Andrea Coscelli, chief executive of the CMA, said:
It is wholly unacceptable that thousands of Lastminute.com customers are still waiting for full refunds for package holidays despite the commitments the company signed with us. We take breaches of commitments extremely seriously. If Lastminute.com does not comply with the law and pay people their outstanding refunds quickly, we will take the company to court.
08:55 AM'Covid-O' meeting today to discuss 'vaccine passports'
The 'Covid O' Cabinet sub-committee is today expected to meet and discuss a system that could loosen restrictions on international travel.
Responsibilities have already been divided up between government departments to look at the possibility of testing and vaccine certificates, reports Sky News.
If plans are approved, the Department for Transport will be told to draw up plans for a certificate infrastructure.
08:38 AMWhat happened yesterday?
The main stories from Thursday:
- Hotel quarantine booking system goes down shortly after being launched
- Half of Britons support 10-year jail terms for travellers who conceal 'red list' trip
- Matt Hancock defends his summer holiday plans
- Sir Keir Starmer visits Heathrow, says 'partial' hotel quarantine is 'not going to work'
- Demand for summer staycations continues to soar
- Mauritius will require vaccine certificates from tourists when it reopens
?Now onto today's news.