‘COVID Police’ Start Home Checks with £10,000 Fines for Flouters

By Tony Winterburn • Published: 28 Sep 2020 • 7:24

So-called ‘COVID Police’ are to start coronavirus home checks from today with fines of up to £10,000 for anyone found flouting the rules.

Officers have launched an initiative to enforce quarantine rules this week with spot visits to people’s houses. From today Police will carry out spot checks and act on tip-offs to enforce strict new Covid-19 self-isolation rules. People ordered to quarantine after testing positive for the virus face a knock on the door from officers to check they are not leaving their home.

Last night ministers unveiled the steps they will take to ensure people comply with self-isolation rules. The Government said it would ‘use police resources to check compliance’ in areas of the country with the highest rates of disease, and on people in high-risk groups.

This comes in the face of a growing revolt by Tory MPs over the way Boris Johnson’s Government is infringing liberties with restrictions to tackle the pandemic. Home Secretary Priti Patel warned last night that ministers ‘will not allow those who break the rules to reverse the hard-won progress made by the law-abiding majority’.

From today, people across England are required by law to quarantine for ten days if they test positive for Covid-19 or are contacted by NHS Test and Trace. Those who do not self-isolate – or employers who force staff to turn up to work – will be hit with fines of up to €12,000 (£10,000).

police checks — Spot checks and tip-offs as police target lockdown rule breakers. image: Twitter

People asked to ‘snitch’ on their neighbours

The police will be used to ‘check compliance’ with the rules and will investigate claims by informers that a person who should be in quarantine is flouting the requirement. People are being urged to report their neighbours who have coronavirus but aren’t self-isolating with cheats set to be fined up to €12,000 £10,000. Police will be undertaking quarantine spot checks in high-risk areas based on “local intelligence” as strict new rules are imposed from today. High profile and “egregious” cases of non-compliance will be investigated and prosecuted, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said.

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