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Johnson hints at red list regime update

Government
Will Payne
9 December 2021

Boris Johnson has hinted that the UK government will review how the red list works after he was quizzed on the need for people to self isolate in hotels rather than at home.

Johnson was asked why travellers stuck in red-listed countries can't self isolate at home rather than a hotel (Credit: BBC News)

During a Downing Street briefing on Wednesday (8 December), the prime minister was asked: "Why can’t fully vaccinated British travellers, stuck in red-listed countries, self isolate at home when they return, instead of a hotel? Quarantine hotels are too expensive."

In response, Johnson said because the Omicron variant is now "seeded" around the world, the government will "look at the red list and the way we do it". 

"It’s been very important in the immediate period, the immediate response to Omicron, to have very tough border measures to slow the arrival of the variant in this country and that was the objective of those measures and continues to be," he added.