Anyone arriving in the UK from abroad could be fined £1,000 if they fail to self-isolate for 14 days, the government is expected to announce.
Health officials are expected to perform spot-checks to ensure rules are followed.
The new rules would also apply to British people returning from abroad.
Home secretary Priti Patel is expected to announce the plans with further details at this afternoon’s Downing Street press conference.
The plans are expected to be implemented from early next month and will be subject to review after an initial three weeks.
Travellers will be asked to fill in a form with their contact information on arrival in the UK and provide the address they will be self-isolating at.
Road hauliers and medical officials will be exempt from the rules, while the common travel area with Ireland will be unaffected too.
Arrivals from France will also need to quarantine, a senior government official confirmed this week following earlier reports that there would be an exemption in place for the country.
Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis spoke about the plans on BBC Breakfast this morning.
“The reality is we are saying to people, if you are going abroad, you need to look at the fact you may well need to quarantine when you come back,” he said.
Other countries have already implemented a quarantine period for passengers arriving from abroad, including New Zealand, South Africa, South Korea, Spain and the US.
A former head of Border Force told MPs today that he was “surprised” quarantine measures had not been brought in at UK borders sooner.
Tony Smith, now chairman of the International Border Management and Technologies Association, told the Commons Home Affairs Committee: “Yes I was surprised that we hadn’t seen earlier measures introduced at the UK border.
“I did live through a number of pandemics in my time in government, including Sars and bird flu, swine flu.
“The normal response is that there would be a significant introduction of public health into the ports and borders. That is what we would normally expect.
“I think there was some of that in some of the ports where hotspots were identified.
