How to quarantine at home after international travel

If you’re in England for less than 2 days, you must quarantine until you receive a negative day 2 COVID-19 PCR test result, or until you leave England, whichever is sooner.

How to travel to the place where you’re quarantining

When you arrive in England, go straight to the place you’re staying to quarantine. Only use public transport if you have no other option, and make sure you follow safer travel guidance for passengers.

If you have or develop COVID-19 symptoms

If you have COVID-19 symptoms, it’s important that you do not travel by public transport.

If you develop COVID-19 symptoms when you’re travelling to England, you should tell one of the crew on your plane, boat, train or bus. They’ll let staff in the airport, port or station know, so they can tell you what you should do next when you arrive.

Long journeys to your quarantine accommodation

If you have a long journey within the UK to arrive at the place where you’ll be quarantining, you may be able to stop overnight in accommodation where you can quarantine yourself from others before continuing your journey.

You must follow the guidance on how to stay safe and prevent the spread of COVID-19. You must quarantine and provide the address of your overnight stop on your passenger locator form in addition to your declared accommodation address.

What you can and cannot do in quarantine

You must quarantine at the address you provided on the passenger locator form. This can include staying:

• in your own home
• with friends or family
• in a standard hotel or other temporary accommodation

You do not have to quarantine in a managed quarantine hotel – these are only for people arriving from countries on the red list.

You must quarantine in one place for the full quarantine period, where you can have food and other necessities delivered.

Quarantining safely

As soon as you arrive at your place of quarantine you should, as far as possible, avoid contact with other people in the place where you’re quarantining to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19.

You should stay in a well ventilated room with an outside window that can be opened, separate from other people in your home.

If you’re staying in a hotel or guest house, you must stay away from others who did not travel with you. You must not use shared areas such as bars, restaurants, health clubs and sports facilities.

Stay 2 metres apart from other people staying there at all times.

Visitors

You cannot have visitors, including friends and family, unless they’re providing:

• emergency assistance
• care or assistance, including personal care
• medical assistance
• veterinary services
• certain critical public services

Going out

Unless you’re at risk of harm, you cannot leave the premises where you’re in quarantine. You must only exercise inside the place where you’re quarantining or in the garden. You cannot leave to walk your dog. You will need to ask friends or relatives to help you with this.

If you’re at risk of harm

If you’re at risk of harm (for example, in cases of domestic abuse), you can leave the place where you’re quarantining.

Shopping

You must not go shopping. If you need help buying groceries, other shopping or picking up medication, you should ask friends or relatives or order a delivery or ask for help from NHS Volunteer Responders.

Getting or posting your tests

Where your testing provider conducts the day 2 and day 8 tests at a test site you can leave the house for your test. Where your tests are delivered and self-administered, if there is no one in your household or bubble who can post the test for processing, you can leave the premises to post your test.

If you have to leave the premises, you should follow safer travel guidance and avoid public transport if possible.

Exceptional circumstances

You can leave your accommodation in certain exceptional circumstances. This includes needing to:

• get basic urgent necessities like food and medicines where you cannot arrange for these to be delivered
• travel to a COVID-19 testing site
• access critical public services including social services and services provided to victims (such as victims of crime)
• move to a different place for quarantine where you can no longer remain where you are

There may be other exceptional circumstances that allow you to leave your place of quarantine.

You can get advice from a medical or other professional to help decide whether your circumstances are exceptional and require you to leave your place of quarantine.

What to do if you get COVID-19 symptoms

You should order a test if you develop at least one of these 3 COVID-19 symptoms at any point:

• a high temperature
• a new, continuous cough
• you’ve lost your sense of smell or taste or it’s changed

Rules for the people you’re staying with

The people you’re staying with do not need to quarantine, unless:

• they travelled with you
• you or someone in the place where you’re staying develop symptoms of COVID-19
• you get a positive test result for your day 2 or day 8 test

If any of these things apply, your household must quarantine with you, following the same rules and for the same length of time as you.

Ending quarantine

You may leave the place where you’re quarantining after 10 full days (where day 0 is the day you took the test or had symptoms). You must:

• have received a negative result to both your day 2 and day 8 tests
• not have any COVID-19 symptoms

Ending quarantine early using Test to Release

Under the Test to Release scheme you can choose to pay for a private COVID-19 test on day 5. If the result is negative (and the result of your day 2 test was negative or inconclusive), you can end your quarantine.

You do not have to do this – it’s a voluntary test.

You must still book and take your mandatory day 2 and day 8 travel tests, even if your Test to Release result is negative.

Find out more about Test to Release, including a link to providers offering this test.

Checks to make sure you’re following quarantine rules

While you quarantine, NHS Test and Trace will contact you daily to confirm you’re following quarantine rules. You may also be visited by staff carrying out in-person checks on behalf of Test and Trace to make sure you’re complying with your legal duty to quarantine. Read more about the checks carried out to make sure you’re following quarantine rules.