Hotel quarantine booking system crashes shortly after being launched
The Government's online booking system for Britons to reserve hotel quarantine rooms crashed on the day of its launch.
The system went live early on Thursday afternoon, but a message soon appeared to say that work was being carried out on it.
The message read: "Sorry for the inconvenience but we're performing some maintenance at the moment. It is expected that the site will be available again by 3pm."
Even before the announcement, people going onto the system in an attempt to book rooms had been unable to do so for the first two days of quarantine.
Anyone clicking onto any of the eight airports listed was unable to book a hotel for either Monday February 15 or Tuesday February 16. Sources suggested the system had gone live without all the hotels having yet being uploaded onto it.
Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, announced on Tuesday that the Government had agreed deals with 16 hotel firms for just under 5,000 rooms.
Leaked documents, revealed by The Telegraph, said a capacity of up to 28,000 hotel rooms was needed to accommodate some 1,425 arrivals a day over the 10 days of quarantine.
Hotel quarantine is required by law for any Briton or UK resident returning from one of 33 "red list" countries, primarily in southern Africa and south America, where new Covid variants have emerged.
All arrivals are required to pay up to £1,750 per person, which covers the cost of the hotel accommodation, three meals and transport to the site.
Mr Hancock has provoked a backlash from Tory MPs, including former justice secretaries over the introduction of a jail sentence of up to 10 years for people lying about their travel history to avoid quarantine.
Additionally, anyone who tries to evade quarantine faces a fine of up to £10,000.
