Covid news - live: Lockdown easing will be 'irreversible' says Boris Johnson as hotel quarantine starts

The Independent

Covid news - live: Lockdown easing will be 'irreversible' says Boris Johnson as hotel quarantine starts

The Independent 15/02/2021 15:30:52 Zoe Tidman

UK Covid-19 vaccinations: Latest figures

Boris Johnson has said that England's emergence from lockdown will be "cautious but irreversible", while the first guests required to isolate at quarantine hotels have arrived.

The prime minister said he hopes to set out target dates for relaxing restrictions in his roadmap on 22 February.

Meanwhile, Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said there was "some way to go" before lockdown is eased, as ministers prepared to start reviewing coronavirus restrictions in England.

From today, UK nationals or residents returning from any country on the government's travel ban list will be required to stay in a quarantine hotel for 10 nights.

These new measures apply to anyone who has been in or through a "red list" country in the past 10 days.

The first international travellers destined for quarantine hotels started arriving for their stay at Heathrow Airport on Monday morning.