More than 260 people in Greater Manchester have been visited by police after failing to respond to quarantine requests from Border Force officials.
Border Force can contact international travellers to check whether they are abiding by 14-day self-isolation rules, if required, on their return to the UK.
Details of individuals are then passed to police if there is no response after a number of attempts of trying to make checks.
Greater Manchester Police said they have received 263 such requests from Border Force since July 22, and in two cases issued fixed penalty notices over repeated breaching of self-isolation regulations.
Superintendent Andrew Sidebotham said: “It’s really important for people to self-isolate for the full 14 days when coming back to the UK as it can take this length of time for symptoms of Covid-19 to develop.
“During this time you could unknowingly pass the virus on to others, even if you don’t have symptoms.
"When contacted by Border Force please respond as, once a case is referred to police, it takes up a number of resources in order to visit the address and make contact with the individual.
“As well as this, officers are putting their health at risk by visiting someone who could potentially be carrying the virus – a risk that is preventable if everyone self-isolates as required.”
