George Eustice says discussions ‘are still ongoing’ with hotels for mandatory quarantine beginning on Monday
Environment Secretary George Eustice faced questions on whether the Government have signed any hotels up for enforced quarantine measures during his appearance on Good Morning Britain.
Following GMB’s interview with Health Minister Edward Argar, where he couldn’t reveal how many hotels had signed up, Mr Eustice was asked if had any answers.
Mr Eustice said: "This policy was announced last week and discussions between officials in the department for health and some of the hotel operators started last Thursday. Those discussions are still ongoing, they have not yet concluded, so we are not in a position to say which hotels have signed up."
He added he was "confident" the capacity for hotels would be in place for Monday.
On the recent claims by a British traveller Sharon Feinstein that she arrived from South Africa with no checks at the border, he reiterated that tests are required before travel and there are penalties in place, adding: "I am sure that officials in the department for transport will look into that particular issue."
Asked what percentage of people coming into the country are adhering to the self-isolation policy, Eustice said: “Well of course we don’t know fully but they do do checks on some of them at the address where people give. Because we can’t know for sure...it is right that we look at further measures.”
On whether criminals like Gary Glitter should be getting the vaccine before shop workers, police officers and prison workers, he said: “We have got an approach set out by the Joint Committee on Vaccines which is to target the most vulnerable cohorts… it is wrong to get into a position of saying, well, if someone has committed a crime, they shouldn’t get the vaccine.”