Birmingham Airport becomes Covid quarantine port for 'red list' flights

Passengers at Birmingham Airport last summer Credit: Jacob King/PA Archive/PA Images

Birmingham Airport has become one of five nationally announced by the Government to handle the arrival of passengers from "red list" countries.

From today (Monday 15th Feb), UK nationals or residents returning to England from 33 countries will be required to spend 10 days in a Government-designated hotel.

Anyone who has been in a high-risk destination will have to enter England through a designated port and have pre-booked a quarantine package to stay at one of the government’s managed quarantine facilities.

The Government has struck deals with 16 hotels so far, providing 4,963 rooms, with a further 58,000 rooms currently on standby, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said.

Travellers from countries on the banned list can only arrive into one of five airports in England, also including:

  • Heathrow Airport

  • Gatwick Airport

  • London City Airport

  • Farnborough Airfield

READ MORE: Covid: What are the new hotel quarantine rules? What are the 33 countries on the 'red list'?

A very small number of passengers returning to Britain from "red list" countries will come via Birmingham Airport, according to policing leaders.

The West Midlands' deputy police and crime commissioner, Waheed Saleem, said Birmingham Airport was expecting "about 2% of those flights, so about 20 (passengers) a month".

Mr Saleem said the numbers in Birmingham were "not going to be as much as other areas, like Heathrow, for instance". Mr Saleem added: "It will be private security and Border Force policing this with support from us, the police, where there are particular issues."

West Midlands Mayor, Andy Street, said "a number of hotels have been identified" around Birmingham Airport to take passengers arriving from "red list" countries, but they had "not become public knowledge yet."

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