This guidance sets out the quarantine and testing requirements for individuals who have been granted an exemption from managed quarantine in England and are instead required to quarantine at home or the place they are staying.
This guidance is for:
If you qualify for a job-related exemption, the guidance on this page does not apply to you. You must follow the separate guidance on the conditions you need to meet and the specific entry requirements.
How to quarantine
Managed quarantine is intended to help protect the UK from potentially harmful variants of COVID-19.
If you are coming to England from a red list country and have been granted an exemption from managed quarantine for medical or compassionate reasons, or because you are an unaccompanied minor who does not have a responsible adult to join you in managed quarantine, you must:
- quarantine at home or in the place you are staying for 10 days (the day you arrive in England is day 0), or longer if you test positive for COVID-19
- provide the names of household members at the address where you intend to quarantine – everyone in the household in which you are quarantining must also isolate for the full quarantine period
- take a day 2 test for variant surveillance – on or before day 2
- take a day 8 test to check that you do not have COVID-19 – on or after day 8
You’ll need to present evidence on arrival at the border that you’ve been granted an exemption and to have booked and paid for the day 2 and day 8 tests via Corporate Travel Management (CTM).
You must follow these rules even if you have been fully vaccinated.
Booking your day 2 and day 8 tests
You must book a day 2 and day 8 COVID-19 testing package through Corporate Travel Management (CTM).
You will need to enter the booking reference number when you complete your Passenger Locator Form.
When you receive your day 2 and day 8 test kits, you must send the 11-character test kit barcode to MQS_new_Exemptions@dhsc.gov.uk.
How to travel to the location where you will be quarantining
When you arrive in England, you must travel directly to the location you are going to quarantine at. You cannot use public transport to travel to your place of quarantine.
Household quarantine
To reduce the risk of a new variant of COVID-19 being transmitted from someone coming into the UK, your entire household must isolate with you for the full quarantine period. If the duration of your stay in the UK is less than 10 days, your household must still quarantine for full quarantine period.
A household is a group of people (who may or may not be related) living at the same address who share cooking facilities, bathrooms or toilets, or living areas.
You must provide the names of your household members in your application for an exemption from managed quarantine. You will be asked to do this when you apply for your exemption. Your household will be informed of their duty to quarantine by the Managed Quarantine Service. You should also inform your household that they will be required to quarantine prior to your arrival.
Household members are not required to take a test on day 2 and day 8. However, if members of your household have symptoms of COVID-19, they should arrange to have a home test. If their result is positive for COVID-19, they will be given further advice with their test results. This will include advice on the duration your entire household must quarantine.
You are required by law to follow the quarantine rules. If you break the quarantine rules, you may face a penalty of up to £10,000.
Members of your household are required to follow the quarantine rules. If a member of your household breaks the quarantine rules, they may face a penalty of up to £10,000.
Your household does not need to isolate from you. However, you can choose to reduce the contact you have with your household to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19.
The entire household must follow these rules even if they’ve been fully vaccinated. The purpose of quarantine is to reduce the risk of a new variant of COVID-19 being transmitted from someone coming into the UK, protecting the UK’s vaccination programme.
In some limited circumstances, you or members of your household may be eligible for an exemption from the requirement to quarantine at home. You or members of your household should apply for an exemption in advance in line with guidance on medical and compassionate exemptions.
How long to quarantine for
Following your arrival in England, you must quarantine at home or in the place you’re staying for either:
- 10 full days, or longer if you test positive for COVID-19 or if you do not receive a day 8 test result
- the duration of your stay in the UK if it’s less than the full quarantine period
Your household must quarantine for the full quarantine period, even if the duration of your stay in the UK is less than the full quarantine period.
The day you arrive in England is day 0.
If you test positive for COVID-19 during your quarantine period, you and members of your household must restart your 10 days of quarantine (the day you took the positive test is the new day 0).
You do not need to quarantine on arrival or take a COVID-19 test on day 2 and day 8 if you are transiting through England to international destinations within 24 hours of your arrival. For more information, please see Coronavirus (COVID-19): safer air travel for passengers.
If you get a positive day 2 or day 8 test
If your day 2 or day 8 test is positive for COVID-19, you and members of your household must restart your 10 days of quarantine. The day that you took the positive test will count as the new day 0.
If you get a positive result from your day 2 test, you do not need to take a test on day 8. Being fully vaccinated does not change this requirement.
You will be given further advice with your test results.
If you get symptoms
You should order a test if you develop at least one of these 3 COVID-19 symptoms, even if mild, at any point:
- a high temperature
- a new, continuous cough
- you’ve lost your sense of smell or taste, or if they have changed
Visitors
You cannot have visitors, including friends and family, unless they’re providing:
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 your private garden (this garden cannot be shared with members of other households). You cannot leave the place where you’re quarantining 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, order a delivery or ask for help from NHS Volunteer Responders.
Getting or posting your tests
You can leave your accommodation to post your COVID-19 tests for processing. Where possible, it is preferable that friends or relatives not in your household post your tests for you. If this is not possible, you should ask a member of your household to post your test for you.
If you have to leave the premises, you should avoid public transport.
Exceptional circumstances
You are only allowed to leave your accommodation in exceptional circumstances, such as:
needing urgent medical assistance, on the advice of a medical professional, to access critical public services including social services and services provided to victims (such as victims of crime).
Other members of your household can leave your accommodation for reasons above. Members of your household can also leave your accommodation in other exceptional circumstances including:
- getting basic urgent necessities like food and medicines where you cannot arrange for these to be delivered
- posting a COVID-19 test
There may be other exceptional circumstances that allow you or members of your household to leave your place of quarantine.
You could 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.
Checks to make sure you’re following quarantine rules
While you quarantine, NHS Test and Trace will contact you daily to confirm that you and members of your household are following quarantine rules. You and your household 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.
Ending quarantine
If you’ve quarantined for 10 full days (the day you arrive in England is day 0) and received a negative result to both your day 2 and day 8 tests, and you do not have symptoms of COVID-19, you and your household may leave the place where you’re quarantining.
If you received a positive COVID-19 test and have quarantined with your household for 10 full days (the day you took the positive test or the day you first developed symptoms is the new day 0), and your household members do not have symptoms of COVID-19, you and your household may leave the place where you’re quarantining.
If members of your household received a positive COVID-19 test, they will be given further advice with their test results. This will include advice on the duration your entire household must quarantine.
Where you have not taken a day 8 test or the results of this test have not arrived, you must quarantine for 14 full days (where day 0 is your day of arrival). Your entire household must also quarantine with you for the full quarantine period.
If you have not received your Day 8 test result by Day 10, please call 119 and quote your 11-character test kit barcode.
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