British travellers in South Africa face the prospect of spending Christmas in quarantine hotels as there are not enough rooms to accommodate the number of people currently trying to return.
Many also face costs amounting to thousands of pounds as they are forced to re-book flights and extend their stays around the limited room availability.
One woman has been told there are no rooms free until 22 December and other families who have found themselves stranded have described the sudden change of rules and quarantine hotel booking system as “chaotic” and “not fit for purpose”.
They accuse the government of being totally unprepared to support those caught out by the changes.
Labour’s shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper called on the government to address the situation urgently.
South Africa and nine other countries in southern Africa were re-added to the travel red list this week to try and tackle the spread of the Omicron variant of Covid19.
Direct flights from South Africa were initially banned a week ago.
Travellers arriving from red list countries have to isolate in designated quarantine hotels for 10 days at their own expense.
But many are now saying they cannot get a booking on the day their flights are due.
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Airport boss hits out at Omicron ‘panic’ by governments
Passengers can be fined £4000 for arriving in the UK from a red list country without a quarantine hotel booking already in place.
“It’s been awful, just awful” says Teresa Martin who is from South Africa originally and travelled out to spend time with her elderly mother who she has not seen for two years.
She was supposed to return on 8 December but…
Source : skynews
