First couple released from hotel quarantine celebrate their freedom by going straight to McDonald’s

13

View
comments

The first couple released from hotel quarantine at midnight after 10 days of detention punched the air and celebrated by going straight to a McDonald’s. 

Removal man Wagner Araujo, 43, and his wife Elaine, were among the first of those quarantined after flying into Britain to be freed from their confinement.

They left the Radisson Blu hotel at London Heathrow Airport smiling and said after they had tucked into their McDonald’s chicken burgers and fries they would be heading straight home to hug their children.

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, mother-of-four Mrs Araujo said she was going to shower her sleeping children with ‘kisses and give them big cuddles’, while her husband added: ‘It has been tough at times, and a bit crazy.’    

Mr Araujo told MailOnline: ‘It has been an expensive time. But it has been an experience. I’m just so happy that we are out at last. To look up at the sky and feel the fresh air and of course to have a McDonald’s outside the hotel.’

His wife said of their children: ‘I have missed them so much I can’t tell you. It has been the hardest thing. But it will be a nice surprise for them because they’re not expecting us now. They don’t know that we are being allowed out of the hotel.’ 

Around 1,200 people are currently in the quarantine hotels, a regime cooked up and imposed by the Government to suppress mutant variants of Covid from high-risk countries including Portugal and Brazil. 

MPs were told this week that more than 100 people a day are going into the hotels at London Heathrow Airport, where they must stay for 10 days at a cost of £1,750 for the accommodation on risk of criminal prosecution. Arrivals who lie about where they have been could be jailed for a maximum of 10 years, and if they leave before the end of quarantine they could be fined £10,000. 

Health Secretary Matt Hancock’s extreme border crackdown sparked criticism from a chorus of lockdown opponents including senior Tory MP Sir Charles Walker and former Supreme Court judge Lord Sumption.

However, the Government has not yet released data on how many people have tested positive for coronavirus since going into a quarantine hotel, with ministers expected to publish an update in the coming weeks.    

Speaking to MailOnline, Mr Araujo explained how he and his wife watched movies and played the PlayStation. 

‘But you don’t realise how lucky you are to be free until you are being told you can’t go anywhere,’ he added.

The couple were met by his twin brother Wander who drove them home to Finchley. London. He said: ‘My brother and I run the speed recovery and removal company in North London and it’ll be great to have him back at work. 

‘I know his children have really missed him and his wife and I know that they’re really miss them. That is going to be the nicest thing that they’re going to be reunited with their children.’ 

Mr Araujo who has lived in London for 20 years, arrived with his wife Heathrow Airport from Brazil via Madrid on February 15 after visiting a sick relative.

The couple had travelled to Brazil on January 11 and set off for their journey back to the UK from Sao Paulo before having a two-hour stop-over in Madrid.

As they landed at Heathrow, they were told they had travelled from a red zone country and would be quarantined and face a bill of £1,750 each.

Several other people were released at midnight along with the couple, with security guards ordering them to leave from the back exit to avoid awaiting press bag at the front of the hotel. 

The Government has defended the scheme, insisting it is required to provide higher protection against the threat of Covid-19 variants by enabling health officials to better track any new cases which might be brought into Britain. 

But some hotel guests have complained that the Government has breached their human rights and protested with a series of homemade signs ‘HM Prison Heathrow’ and ‘What a way to spend your birthday’. 

One woman quarantining at the Radisson Blu Edwardian hotel near Heathrow said she was forced to stay there when she could self-isolate at home – and despite testing negative for Covid-19.

She held up a handwritten message on a piece of paper behind the window of her room yesterday which read: ‘Government controlled hotel quarantine plan is in contravention of my human rights when I have a home to go to for self-isolation and have tested negative for Covid.’

Other guests staying at the four-star hotel were also pictured today giving a thumbs down as they leaned out of their window, with one of them wearing a football shirt of Argentinian team Boca Juniors. 

Guests revealed their excitement at being released from hotel quarantine, with a British businessman who flew into the UK from Dubai unaware of the rules telling MailOnline he ‘can’t wait’ to see his family.   

Wayne Kelly was part of the initial batch of travellers taken straight from Heathrow Airport and into hotels when the new laws began, and was also fined £500 on top of the £1,750 for his accommodation for 10 days.

Separately, the father of a 16-year-old boy with autism who is quarantining in a hotel after returning from Brazil has said the experience has left his son depressed, physically unwell and unable to eat properly.  

Mr Kelly, 37, told MailOnline: ‘I feel like I have been through a prison sentence. I was thinking of having a poster on the wall where I could just cross one day off each day. I can’t wait to see my wife Nikki and our children.  

‘I just want go back to Birmingham to my home and my family and put this all behind me. I should never been here in the first place. I had a negative test when I left Dubai.

‘My wife was picking me up in her car and taking me straight home. I would not have come into contact with any public. But I did come into contact with the public at Heathrow, so the whole thing was very confusing.

‘I would have been people among those passengers who were allowed to go home and yet I was put into hotel quarantine. And I’ve been here for nearly two weeks But I’m really glad that my release day is nearly here.’ 

Mr Kelly, who deals in real estate, added: ‘You can’t really tell what’s going on the world from a window. All I can see is a McDonald’s every day and cars pulling up for their takeaways.

‘Apart from the few breaks in the car park, I’ve just been sleeping all day, getting up late in the afternoon. My business has suffered, my family are suffered and I have suffered. I’m glad it is all coming to an end.

‘It is inhuman to have kept us in here like this. And then charge £1750 for the privilege.’ 

After the Health Secretary issued blood-curdling threats of 10 years in jail for travellers who lie about visiting mutant Covid-19 hotspots earlier this month, he was accused of ‘demeaning his office’.

Mr Hancock trumpeted the measure saying he made ‘no apology’ for how severe it was as he unveiled the extreme borders crackdown. 

However, senior Tory MPs accused the Health Secretary of ‘stupidity’ over the sabre-rattling, pointing out that the country does not have ‘enough prison capacity to start locking up 19-year-old silly kids’.

Sir Jonathan Jones, the Government’s former top lawyer, said he would ‘eat a face mask’ if anyone was ever sentences to 10 years for lying on a form.

Former Supreme Court justice Lord Sumption branded the mooted maximum prison term ‘inhumane’ – pointing out it is longer than for some sex offences. And ex-Attorney General Dominic Grieve said courts would never impose the ‘draconian’ 10-year sentence. 

Despite complaints of rights abuses, the majority of the British public told a YouGov poll they supported the hotel quarantine regime.

The survey from last week found 90 per cent approval of the scheme, while 72 per cent thought the rules should apply to all arrivals, not just those from the 33 countries on the UK’s ‘red list’.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said last week: ‘We recognise the impacts restrictions have on many and are grateful for the public’s continued efforts in helping to tackle this global pandemic by following the rules to protect others and save lives.

‘The new managed quarantine scheme and enhanced testing regime are necessary to provide a further level of protection against the threat of Covid-19 variants, by enabling us to better track any new cases which might be brought into the country.

‘All hotels are providing daily health and welfare support, and staff will seek medical support if they have health concerns about individual guests.’