more now on the restrictions that come into effect this morning in england which its hoped will reduce the spread of the new coronavirus variant, omicron. it is now mandatory to wear face coverings on public transport and in shops, but not in hospitality venues. isolation rules have also returned for travellers coming into the uk, until they receive a negative pcr test. also all contacts of suspected omicron cases will be contacted by nhs test and trace and required to self isolate for ten days, regardless of your vaccination status to talk through the impact on businesses i m joined by dr roger barker, director of policy at the institute of directors.
isolation rules for anyone in contact with positive cases. travel from south africa linked to more than a dozen omicron cases on board two klm flights to amsterdam. those travelers now in isolation. it s now 5:00 at the airport. reporter: paula zimmerman had to wait 18 hours at the airport until tests came back negative. i had a really great trip seeing, you know, family and friends and visiting wonderful south africa. in retrospect maybe it would have been wiser not to go. reporter: south africa tonight hitting back at the travel bans saying it should be applauded for its science in identifying the variant early, instead of being punished. these restrictions are completely unjustified and unfairly discriminate against our country and our southern african sister countries. many african countries calling this discrimination. julia joins us tonight from london.
about who is included in the scheme, and how it will actually work. we don t even know if we are included as one of the 500 companies. if we were included, we don t know how the testing is going to operate, so to be honest with you, we haven t got a clue. but this isn tjust a problem for the food industry. transport networks have been hit as well. many railway companies have had to cancel services because they can t get enough drivers. emergency services have been hit, and pubs and restaurants have had to close because they can t get enough staff. there are exemptions available for a small number of fully vaccinated critical workers in sectors such as energy, watersupply, medicines, emergency services and border control. but the system has been criticised as too narrow, and the government is under pressure to extend it, before a much wider relaxation of isolation rules comes in on august 16th so, what we are saying to the most critical worker
we don t even know if we are included as one of the 500 companies. if we were included, we don t know how the testing is going to operate, so to be honest with you, we haven t got a clue. but this isn tjust a problem for the food industry. transport networks have been hit as well. many railway companies have had to cancel services because they can t get enough drivers. emergency services have been hit, and pubs and restaurants have had to close because they can t get enough staff. there are exemptions available for a small number of fully vaccinated critical workers in sectors such as energy, watersupply, medicines, emergency services and border control. but the system has been criticised as too narrow, and the government is under pressure to extend it, before a much wider relaxation of isolation rules comes in on august 16th. so, what we are saying to the most critical worker sectors is exactly that, so that is the fire,
transport networks have been hit as well. many railway companies have had to cancel services because they can t get enough drivers. emergency services have been hit, and pubs and restaurants have had to close because they can t get enough staff. there are exemptions available for a small number of fully vaccinated critical workers in sectors such as energy, watersupply, medicines, emergency services and border control. but the system has been criticised as too narrow, and the government is under pressure to extend it, before a much wider relaxation of isolation rules comes in on august 16th. so, what we are saying to the most critical worker sectors is exactly that, so that is the fire, police, border control, certain parts of the food sector, that if you have had that double vaccination and indeed the two weeks after you have had your second vaccination. but not the trains, he told us it was chaos, the boss of the rmt. certain elements of transport they have been looking at, to give t