Instruments relating to COVID-19
Travel
Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel) (England) (Amendment) (No. 14) Regulations 2021 (SI 2021/555)
23.Elite sportspersons and others participating in, or training for, events specified in Schedule 3 to the International Travel Regulations8 are exempt from some aspects of the regime (for example, they do not have to remain in self-isolation from others participating in the same event). This instrument updates the list of events in Schedule 3 to remove those that have finished and add events that will begin in the near future. We question why these predictable changes were brought into effect within 24 hours and their utility as a result; the first of the new events takes place on 9 May 2021 which allows participants no time to make arrangements to take advantage of the exemption.
Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel) (England) (Amendment) (No. 15) Regulations 2021 (SI 2021/571)
24.Following consultation with the Joint Biosecurity Centre, this instrument amends the International Travel Regulations9 to add the Maldives, Turkey and Nepal to the “red list” of countries subject to additional measures (such as managed quarantine for arrivals). It also bans direct flights from the Maldives and Turkey and direct sea journeys from Turkey.
25.The additional measures, which came into force on 12 May 2021, do not apply to the drivers of goods vehicles who have departed from or transited through Turkey in the 10 days before their arrival in England. They will not be required to enter managed quarantine on arrival, but to follow the existing self-isolation scheme for hauliers which requires them to remain isolated in their cabs or a hotel and apply a specific testing regime.
Public services
Education (School Day and School Year) (England) (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 (SI 2021/541)
26.This instrument makes a retrospective change to treat an extra training day held on 4 January 2021, when teachers prepared for coronavirus testing in schools,10 as an In Service Training (INSET) day without schools being at risk of breaching their statutory duties. The instrument also makes provision to enable schools to close for the additional bank holiday on 3 June 2022 to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Her Majesty the Queen. This mirrors previous arrangements that were made, for example, for the Diamond Jubilee (5 June 2012) and the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (29 April 2011).
8 Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel) (England) Regulations 2020 (SI 2020/568)
9 Ibid