JUST one in four people arriving in the UK is checked to see if they come from a Covid hotspot, figures have revealed.
And only one in ten gets a call to ensure they are self-isolating, with most just receiving a text.
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The stats were released just before it was revealed that hotel quarantine will start on February 15.
Border Force officers have checked more than 3.6 million passenger locator forms since June — but that is only 24 per cent of arrivals.
Two weeks ago, only 30 per cent were looked at despite the threat of new strains from Brazil and South Africa.
Yvette Cooper, chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee, said after getting the arrivals data that problems were being caused “because no one is in charge of this policy”.
She added: “The Home Office, the Department for Transport and the Department of Health pass it around like a hot potato — no one taking full responsibility, no one probing the detail, no one getting a grip.”
A meeting has taken place between Manchester, East Midlands and Stansted airports on whether to mothball operations. A source said: “It costs them millions a week. It’s unsustainable.”
The potential collapse of the air industry emerged as ministers finally announced that quarantine hotels will start in ten days.
General Sir Gordon Messenger is being brought in to oversee the new measures.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock admitted: “We’ve got to get this right.”
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