Infection risk adds to Indonesian quake woes, while UK tightens curbs

New quarantine rules

In the United Kingdom, where the COVID-19 vaccination drive is gathering pace, strict new quarantine rules requiring isolation for up to 10 days for all travelers arriving in the country begin on Monday in an effort to halt the spread of the highly contagious virus variants.

Britain's Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, told the BBC's The Andrew Marr Show on Sunday that the measures, announced on Friday, would be enforced with fines. Authorities would be stepping up checks on travelers who must self-isolate, while enforcement checks at borders would also be "ramped up".

Passengers must show proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken in the previous 72 hours before traveling, and GPS and facial-recognition technology may be used to check that people are staying in isolation, according to a report in The Times.

Raab said asking all arrivals to self-isolate in hotels was a "potential measure" the government was keeping under review.

Mutant viruses might be immune to the vaccines Britain has acquired, the government fears, and sources told The Times that ministers are now examining New Zealand's policy of "directed isolation", whereby everyone arriving is charged for a stay at an airport hotel.

While the pandemic forced the UK to shut its borders, Australia's chief medical officer said a full reopening of the country's borders is unlikely this year.

Brendan Murphy, who headed Australia's initial response to COVID-19 as the chief medical officer before becoming the Secretary of the Department of Health, said on Monday full-scale travel to and from Australia would likely not resume until 2022.

"I think we'll go most of this year with substantial border restrictions," he said. "Even if we have a lot of the population vaccinated we don't know whether that will prevent transmission of the virus and it's likely that quarantine will continue for some time."

Australia's borders were closed to noncitizens and nonresidents from March 20, 2020.

Jonathan Powell in London, Xinhua and agencies contributed to this story.