Passengers on BA flight BA43 from Heathrow heard of the clampdown on arrival yesterday. Anna DeMarigny, 64, from Galway, Ireland, had flown in for 10 days to say goodbye to her terminally-ill best friend. The double-jabbed digital marketer said her daughter was due to fly from the US to Ireland on December 13 with her new grandson she has not met: “I cannot go into quarantine in a hotel for 10 days when I return.

       “I feel sick. I am going to have to cut short my stay with my friend who is dying. I’ll have to spend a couple of hours with her only...and try to find a way home. I am very angry.

       “All this happened overnight with us all oblivious.”

       Tony Haupt, 77, of Oxford, was visiting five of his children in Cape Town.

       He said: “I was supposed to stay here for a week and then get back to England for my daughter Charlie’s university graduation. I will have to make lots of unplanned changes.

       “I have been double jabbed and had my booster, and after going through all that and being told I am triple-locked as safe, I am now told I am going to have to pay a fortune to go into quarantine.”

       One adult staying in hotel quarantine for 10 days is charged ￡2,285 according to the Government website.