Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

[Carruthers]

A bit of context to the possible £10,000 fine as mentioned in Sexobon's post above:

Holidaymaker who ignored 14-day quarantine rule partly responsible for Bolton surge, says council leader

A holidaymaker who failed to self-isolate after returning to Bolton was partly responsible for the area’s “extreme spike” in coronavirus cases, the council leader has said.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Saturday, Bolton Council leader, David Greenhalgh, said the Greater Manchester borough’s high rate had been linked back to pubs in the town and a “cohort of people” who refused to follow guidance.

The Conservative councillor said: “We had somebody who did not adhere to quarantine, did not stay the 14 days, literally went on a pub crawl with a number of mates.

“From that incident which took place over a weekend – (they) visited a number of premises – led to a large number of individual transmissions from that one person which you can imagine then is like holding back the tide because he then became symptomatic two days after they had all gone on this pub crawl.

“He was positive-tested the following day.

“That is four or five days where all the people he was in contact with have been going about their normal day-to-day business.”

Earlier this month, a 23-year-old man from Bolton was fined £1,000 for failing to self-isolate after returning from a holiday in Ibiza on August 20.

Greater Manchester Police said he had left his home multiple times and even hosted a house party.

It is not known whether the individual mentioned by Mr Greenhalgh was fined for breaching regulations.

Leaders in Bolton had been arguing for restrictions, placed on all of Greater Manchester, to be lifted at the end of August before the area saw a spike which led to it having the highest rates of the virus in the country.

It is now subject to tougher measures than other parts of Greater Manchester and the rest of England, with hospitality venues only allowed to operate as takeaways and ordered to shut by 10pm.

In early September, Health Secretary Matt Hancock blamed a surge in cases among young 'people in their 20s and 30s' socialising.

Mr Hancock said contact tracing had pinpointed outbreaks to several pubs in Bolton.

Mayor Andy Burnham has also previously said he was told someone coming back from holiday and going out drinking 'is linked to a large part of the problem'.

The latest figures on coronavirus show that Bolton still has the highest rate in the country and remains at 189.9 per 100,000 people.

Manchester Evening News