No10's £400MILLION Covid hotels farce

Just two per cent of passengers put up in the Government's £385 million quarantine hotels ended up testing positive for Covid-19, a report has found.

Arrivals from 33 'red list' countries had to pay £1,750 to spend ten days in self-isolation at a designated hotel.

But the managed quarantine service – including hotels, security, transport and tests – cost £757 million between February and December 2021.

The National Audit Office found only one in 50 quarantined guests tested positive in that period. 

While £428 million was recovered from passenger fees, taxpayers were left with a net cost of £329 million.

Paying for extra Border Force staff, the passenger locator form system and follow-up costs added another £157 million to the bill.

Just £3million was recovered from passenger fines – leaving a total cost to the taxpayer of £483 million.