Originally Posted by
standbykid
So riddle me this...if I need to make a quick trip (2 days) to the UK for compassionate reasons (saying a final goodbye) from overseas, using a UK passport, do I have to self isolate in the UK for 2 weeks? Seems unnecessary when I can do the isolation after returning back to my current home.
I can see medical quarantine is a custome that have faded from memory among many.
To recap, in principle you should on arrival not have contact with anyone and relocate to your place of quarantine immediately. Only after the required quarantine (self isolation) time have passed should you come out into society and do your planned business. When you return home you will probably have to go into quarantine again for the length of time your country require for foreign arrivals.
Meaning there is no longer such a thing as a quick 2 day trip abroad. If a loved one abroad even within Europe passed you could be asking for a funeral in 2 weeks time and be doing a 1 month round trip including return quarantine. If there was passenger flights available, besides the limits many countries have set on how many can attend gatherings including a funeral.
There could be limited policing of this but if you turn up at the airport agian 2 days after arrival there could be some awkward questions to answer.
This type of quarantining is not a new idea. Ellis Island outside New York was used for that purpose for many years. Other harbours had dedicated island docks or buoys where arriving foreign ships had to stay for a certain period of time before anybody was alloed to put a foot ashore. Some towns had dedicated facilities just outside the town walls for this purpose even for visitors not coming by ship. Maybe the whole thing works better in those countries that bring foreign arrivals diretly from the airport, no matter what passport, to a dedicated guarded compound for their quarantine. I believe I read that is the practice in Australia, or whas it New Zealand, or both.