It comes after it emerged the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) warned on 21 January that "reactive, geographically targeted" travel bans, like those now being enforced by government, could not be relied on to guard against the import of new Covid-19 variants.
Sky News reports it put the 15 February date for hotel quarantine to Number 10, but was not given a firm answer; a 15 February start date would come the best part of a month after the policy was first aired by ministers.
