TRAVELLERS who conceal their arrival from a country on the UK Government’s “red list” could be jailed for up to 10 years, Matt Hancock has told MPs.

And as part of a clampdown to avoid variant strains of the coronavirus entering Britain, the Health Secretary for England also announced that anyone who tried to avoid the mandatory 10-day self-isolation in a hotel would face fines of up to £10,000.

Mr Hancock, who described the Government’s response to preventing virus variants entering the country as “mission critical,” confirmed that travellers from abroad would also have to undergo two tests after arrival, which would come in addition to the one they would have had to undergo prior to their journey.

Other details include:

*there will be a £1,000 fine for any international arrival who fails to take a mandatory test either within 72 hours of departure or on the second day of quarantine;

*there will be a £2,000 penalty for any international arrival who fails to take the second mandatory test on day eight following their arrival;

*any failure to be tested will automatically extend the traveller’s quarantine period to 14 days and

*a quarantine package of hotel, transport and tests will cost individuals £1,750.

In his statement, Mr Hancock said how viruses like Covid-19 changed over time and “so responding to new variants as soon as they arise is mission critical to protect ourselves for the long term”.

Outlining the Government’s four-part strategy to do this, he explained: “First, the lower the case numbers here, the fewer new variants we get – so the work to lower case numbers domestically is crucial.

“Second, as I set out to the House last week, is enhanced contact tracing, surge testing and genomic sequencing.

“Third, is the work on vaccines to tackle variants as set out yesterday by Professor Van-Tam.

“And fourth, health protection at the border to increase our security against new variants of concern arriving from abroad.”

Mr Hancock told MPs the UK had to “strengthen our defences yet further”.

He explained: “We’re setting up a new system of hotel quarantine for UK and Irish residents who’ve been in red-list countries in the last 10 days. In short, this means that any returning residents from these countries will have to quarantine in an assigned hotel room for 10 days from the time of arrival.

“Before they travel, they’ll have to book through an online platform and pay for a quarantine package costing £1,750 for an individual travelling alone which includes the hotel, transport and testing. This booking system will go live on Thursday when we’ll also publish the full detailed guidance.

“Passengers will only be able to enter the UK through a small number of ports that currently account for the vast majority of passenger arrivals. When they arrive, they’ll be escorted to a designated hotel which will be closed to guests who aren’t quarantining, for 10 days or for longer if they test positive for Covid-19 during their stay.

“We’ve contracted 16 hotels for an initial 4,600 rooms and we will secure more as they are needed. People will need to remain in their rooms and of course will not be allowed to mix with other guests and there will be visible security in place to ensure compliance alongside necessary support, so even as we protect public health we can look after the people in our care.”

The Secretary of State also announced new fines for international arrivals who failed to take Covid-19 tests, adding those who lied on their passenger locator forms faced up to 10 years in jail.

“People who flout these rules are putting us all at risk,” declared Mr Hancock.

“Passenger carriers will have a duty in law to make sure that passengers have signed up for these new arrangements before they travel, and will be fined if they don’t, and we will be putting in place tough fines for people who don’t comply.

“This includes a £1,000 penalty for any international arrival who fails to take a mandatory test, a £2,000 penalty for any international arrival who fails to take the second mandatory test, as well as automatically extending their quarantine period to 14 days, and a £5,000 fixed penalty notice – rising to £10,000 – for arrivals who fail to quarantine in a designated hotel.”

He added: “Anyone who lies on the passenger locator form and tries to conceal that they’ve been in a country on the red list in the 10 days before arrival here will face a prison sentence of up to 10 years.”

The Cabinet minister said the measures would be put into law this week and more resources would be available to enforce them, adding: “I make no apologies for the strength of these measures because we’re dealing with one of the strongest threats to our public health that we’ve faced as a nation.”

Jonathan Ashworth for Labour argued that the British public wanted the Government to “go further” on border quarantine measures.

He told the Commons: “Our first line of defence is surely to do everything we can to stop [new variants] arising in the first place. That means securing our borders to isolate new variants as they come in. He’s announced a detailed package today but he hasn’t announced comprehensive quarantine controls at the borders.

“So, why then when over half of the countries where the South Africa variant has been identified…are over half of them not on the so-called red list?”

The Shadow Health Secretary added: “And indeed according to newspaper reports he wanted to go further with more extensive quarantine arrangements. I want that as well, the British public want that as well, so I will work with him to make that happen so we can strengthen our borders and fix any holes in this nation’s defences.”