Families should expect a ‘knock on the door’ when they return from abroad, Priti Patel warned last night.
The Home Secretary said enforcement was being stepped up to make sure travellers who visit amber-list countries such as France, Spain and Italy obey the ten-day quarantine rule.
Officials have the capacity to carry out 10,000 home visits a day and 30,000 were conducted last week.
Anyone found to be out when supposedly self-isolating risks a fine of up to £10,000 – although few have been levied so far.
The warning came despite growing optimism of an end to Covid curbs next month and after days of confusion over amber-list countries.
Boris Johnson told MPs yesterday that visits to these medium-risk destinations were acceptable only in ‘extreme circumstances’.
But one analysis said up to 270,000 Britons will fly to amber countries in the five days to Sunday.
Around 1,300 flights were scheduled, carrying up to 54,000 passengers a day to destinations including Spain, Greece, France and Italy.
Miss Patel was asked by the Mail yesterday whether these holidaymakers should expect a ‘knock on the door’ when they got home.
She replied: ‘Yes, people should. There is a service, provision is in place, capacity has been increased for that very reason. People will not go unchecked.
‘Significant resources have been put in place – millions of pounds – in terms of the follow-up checking of people around their testing and making sure they stay at home. It has been stepped up.’
Tory MPs warned that a ‘heavy handed’ approach to enforcement would backfire when there was hope that coronavirus restrictions could be lifted on June 21.
Both Boris Johnson and Health Secretary Matt Hancock yesterday said they were increasingly confident that coronavirus jabs were effective against all variants – including the Indian strain.
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