Nearly a third of people arriving in England and Northern Ireland as the coronavirus Delta variant took off may have broken quarantine rules.
More than 300,000 cases were passed to investigators between March and May, according to figures seen by the BBC. The government was not able to say how many of these were found to have broken the rules or could not be traced.
The Home Office has said it aims to pay home visits to all travellers suspected of not following the rules. But Labour’s shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds said the figures obtained by the BBC “confirm our worst fears” about the government’s “lax border policy”. And he accused the Home Office of “gross negligence”.
Earlier this year, the government introduced new rules for people arriving from abroad in an effort to slow the spread of coronavirus and stop new variants arriving in the country. People arriving from high-risk countries - deemed “red list” - had to quarantine in a hotel. Those coming from “amber list” - or medium-risk areas - were required to self-isolate for 10 days and provide evidence of negative Covid tests.
From 17 March to 31 May more than 1,000,000 people arrived in England and Northern Ireland from amber list countries. Figures for this period obtained under Freedom of Information laws show a total of 301,076 cases were referred to investigators for checks on whether they were self-isolating. During this time, the highly contagious Delta variant of coronavirus - first detected in India - was spreading rapidly through the country.
Call handlers employed by the Department of Health and Social Care were tasked with contacting arrivals to check they were obeying the self-isolation and testing rules. Cases where the contact ended the call, refused to co-operate, indicated they would break the quarantine or testing rules, or could not be contacted after three attempts were referred to investigators at the Border Force Criminal Justice Unit and the police. Officers would then attempt to visit the contact at home to check they were following the rules.
After 26 April, the Home Office hired private contractor Mitie to carry out home visits to international travellers required to isolate, from contacts supplied by NHS Test and Trace.
Yvette Cooper, Labour MP and chair of the Home Affairs Committee, said: “We’ve been concerned throughout that there just weren’t proper follow-ups on the checks that were done, and as a result you just had these huge gaps in the home quarantine system and that’s what made it easier for the Delta variant to spread.”
That is appalling news - BJ and his government not only let the “Indian” virus in - they also let it spread … 
Incompetent and negligent are words that don’t even begin the cover the lack of control exercised by the government over thousands of infected travellers entering England and Northern Ireland … 
No wonder that, now, the UK is experiencing 40,000 new infections, 1,000 hospitalisations and 150 deaths from COVID every day … 
