Published on : Monday, April 27, 2020
There are no temperature checks at airports and at present the UK is one of the few nations with no screening for coronavirus on arrival and passengers are advised on what to do if they become symptomatic.
It is noted that almost every country in the world has a lower infection rate than the UK.
After the numbers of new cases begin a sustained fall, the government plans to introduce a regime similar to that in place in Singapore and Australia – though without such tight restrictions.
Aimed at allowing time for the symptoms to develop the arrivals from anywhere in the world entering Singapore must spend two weeks in a hotel room or similar accommodation provided by the Singapore government.
The travellers might be liable for a jail term of up to six months if they leave the room while in Australia, airport hotels are being used to quarantine arrivals for 14 days.
But the UK plan would instead require air, sea and rail passengers to specify the address where they intend to spend the next two weeks. There will be spot checks by the authorities to ensure that travellers are at the address they registered.
The proposed move would immediately stifle demand for flights and holidays which has made the travel industry react with horror.
From May 1, Wizz Air will start up links from Luton to 14 European destinations plus Tel Aviv from 1 May. Also, Britain’s two biggest holiday companies are planning to relaunch trips abroad in May and June.
During early summer airlines including British Airways, easyJet and Ryanair were also planning to introducing meaningful flights.
A senior aviation executive said that the industry has been looking to see when destination countries would reopen, because that was regarded as the main parameter for air travel to start up at a meaningful scale.
There will be a common international standard agreement on health precautions by the Heathrow airport and a spokesperson said that they were already working with the aviation industry and regulators here and in other countries to establish the need for a common standard, and what it might involve.
According to the UK government the evidence suggests temperature checks in particular are ineffective once there is community transmission.
So it is requested that the evidence base for the current advice be published as soon as possible, so that it can be properly considered against international advice.
This type of move would also write off inbound tourism to the UK for the summer – although domestic demand is likely to be higher than for decades
Tags: britain