Last checked at 
* UK to detail hotel quarantine plan later - minister
* BBC says would apply to S.Africa, S.America, Portugal
* Minister says people should not book summer vacations
* UK travel industry worried about measures
(Adds quotes, details)
By Kate Holton and Michael Holden
LONDON, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Britain will announce on Tuesday
whether it will bring in mandatory quarantine in hotels for some
or all arrivals, the country's coronavirus vaccination minister
said as he warned the public not to book summer vacations.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he was looking at the
option of introducing quarantine hotels for those coming to
Britain to prevent the risk of "vaccine-busting" new coronavirus
variants entering the country.
Nadhim Zahawi, the minister responsible for the rollout of
the United Kingdom's COVID-19 vaccination programme, said
details of plans would come later on Tuesday.
"The government is looking at, as the prime minister has
confirmed, the hotel quarantine policy, and we'll make an
announcement on this in the appropriate way," he told BBC TV.
Britain has suffered a sharp rise in the number of
infections and deaths in the new year, fuelled partly by a new
more highly contagious variant of the virus first identified in
southeast England.
There has been concern about the possible impact of other
strains discovered in South Africa and Brazil, and whether these
variants might impact on the effectiveness of vaccines which are
seen as key to Britain's way out from strict lockdown measures.
The country has the fifth worst death toll in the world from
the pandemic, with 98,531 people dying within 28 days of a
positive test, and one of the deepest economic contractions on
record. Official figures on Tuesday showed the unemployment rate
had hit its highest level in nearly five years.
The BBC reported that the new hotel quarantine requirement
would mean arrivals from most of Southern Africa and South
America, as well as Portugal, would have to isolate in a hotel
for 10 days.
It said there had been "no definitive decision yet" on those
coming from other parts of the world and this was "still a live
issue". Johnson will chair a meeting with senior ministers on
the decision later on Tuesday.
The measures, which would be among the strictest in Europe
if introduced, have alarmed the travel industry which is already
fighting for survival.
"Let's hope it's for as few markets as possible because
quite frankly tourism has already been decimated this year and
really this is the last thing we need," Joss Croft, chief
executive of UKinbound, which represents Britain's tourism
sector, told the BBC.
Zahawi also said the public should not be booking holidays
abroad for this summer agreeing it was "absolutely" too soon to
do so.
"I think it's far too early," he told Sky News. "There's
still 37,000 people in hospital with COVID at the moment, it's
far too early for us to even speculate about the summer."
Engine maker Rolls-Royce cut its forecasts for the
timing of a recovery on Tuesday due to measures designed to
contain the new variants.
(Reporting by Michael Holden and Kate Holton; editing by
Estelle Shirbon and Ed Osmond)
