(CMR) Some people staying in Britain’s quarantine hotels said they felt like captives and thought it unfair that they were required to quarantine at a hotel when they had homes they could go to.
Mohamed Noor said his family was outside waiting when he arrived at the airport, but Reuters reported he was still taken to a hotel.
“We are like captives in these rooms,” a woman who was returning from vacation told Reuters.
The woman said she felt like she was being punished after taking a holiday following a stressful year working in a hospital where she has treated COVID-19 patients.
Britain’s newly established quarantine hotels received their first guests on Monday as the government tries to prevent new coronavirus variants derailing its vaccination drive.
Under the new rules, people arriving in England from 33 high-risk countries must stay in designated hotels for 10 days at their own expense. In Scotland the rule applies to arrivals from any country.
The cost for quarantining in the government-contracted hotels is 1,750 pounds.
After being taken by bus to government-contracted hotels, residents must spend most of the time in their rooms and have meals delivered to their door.
On Sunday, the government reached its goal of giving the first of two doses of vaccine to 15 million of the country’s most vulnerable people, including health care workers and persons over 70 years old.
The vaccination drive has since been extended to people over 65 and those with underlying health conditions.
The government’s goal is to give everyone over 50 their first vaccine shot by the end of April, with the entire adult population vaccinated by September.