Quarantine hotels under consideration, Dominic Raab suggests, as he says 'all possibilities' on table

Quarantine hotels are under consideration, Dominic Raab has suggested, as he said "all possibilities" remained on the table.

The Foreign Secretary confirmed the Government has “considered all of the possibilities”, in response “to all of the variations” that are now being seen from the different strains of coronavirus.

“We need to check those new variants don't create extra impact on the NHS,” Mr Raab told Sophy Ridge on Sunday.

He said that the recent suspension of travel corridors “is a precautionary measure so we don't undermine the efforts of the NHS”.

When pressed about the prospect of creating quarantine hotels as seen in other countries, Mr Rabb said: “We'll consider all the measures in the realm.”

It comes after ministers are said to have instructed staff to study a wide range of policies to crackdown on quarantine, including use of facial-recognition technology and GPS to check that people are staying in isolation.

According to The Sunday Times officials were last week ordered to study New Zealand’s policy of “directed isolation”, where everyone arriving is charged for a stay at an airport hotel and forced to remain in isolation for two weeks.

A Number 10 source said the report was "speculation" and that the UK Government was often looking at other countries' approaches in tackling the pandemic.

Mr Raab added that “in terms of enforcement, we are going to be strengthening the checks at the border - so when people come in to make sure that they have filled out the passenger location form, that they have got that negative test that they have to vouch for before they get on the flight”.

"Also, because the effect of abolishing or suspending the travel corridors is that people go into quarantine and self-isolation for 10 days, we're making sure that Public Health England checks to make sure people are adhering to those rules,” he said.

"As well as changing the rules, we are also making sure that we beef up the capacity to make those checks."