A PROMINENT Bromsgrove Hotel is to close its doors to visitors and be used as a hotel for people who are returning from ‘red list’ countries and need to quarantine.
The Standard received a call from a person about the situation at the Holiday Inn, Kidderminster Road.
On investigation, we found there were no rooms available to book at the venue after tomorrow and a source told us the quarantine status was due to start tomorrow or Thursday and could last until October.
As part of the Covid restrictions, anyone visiting a ‘red’ country will need to quarantine in a hotel for ten days.
Among those countries on the red list which would need the week-and-a-half isolation are Brazil, Egypt, India, The Maldives, Pakistan and Turkey.
We contacted the IHG which runs the hotel to find out more.
A spokesperson said they were unable to comment as the approach to quarantine and hotel selection was a matter for the Department for Health and Social Care.
The Department of Health and Social Care said it did not publish the names of Government-contracted hotels or the number of contracted hotels in any given area.
It did confirm it was expanding the Managed Quarantine Service (MQS) to provide enough hotel capacity to ensure British citizens and residents were able to exercise their right to return from a red list country. It added it was closely monitoring availability with more rooms being obtained as needed.
If more countries are added to the red list and passengers from them continue to increase, there are extensive contingency plans in place.
A spokesperson said: “Our top priority is protecting the public and our robust border regime is helping minimise the number of new variants imported into the UK.
“The Government continues to work to ensure we have enough hotel capacity available to meet demand from red list country arrivals and we have ongoing agreements with a number of hotels moving into the summer.”
