Quarantine will save lives vows Priti
PRITI Patel yesterday defended plans to force most people arriving in the UK to quarantine for 14 days, insisting they are essential to save lives.
The Home Secretary revealed ministers will agree air bridges with low-risk countries as soon as possible, adding “we are not alone in our fight against this disease”.
All travellers must fill out a “contact locator form”, including details on where they will isolate and how they can be contacted. They will also face random spot checks.
Anyone caught flouting the quarantine, which comes into force next Monday, will face a £1,000 fine.
Ms Patel said: “It is not my intention to destroy any sectors of our country or our economy”.
But backbench Tory MPs warned the rules would ground the aviation industry, hammer businesses and close Britain off from the world.
Dr Liam Fox, a former international trade secretary, said: “If such a barrier was required, why was it not introduced earlier in the outbreak?
Bridges
“And if it is a contingency measure, against a so-called second wave, why apply it to countries with a lower infection rate than we already have?
“Surely the answer lies in the Government’s test and trace system, rather than unnecessary economic isolation.”
Former prime minister Theresa May said: “Why is the Government not taking a lead in developing an international aviation health screening standard to save jobs and ensure Britain is open for business?”
The Home Secretary rejected claims the quarantine should have been introduced months ago.
She said: “The scientific advice was clear that such measures would have made little difference when domestic transmission was widespread. But now, the transmission rate in the UK continues to decline and international travel is likely to resume from its record low.
“Therefore, the scientific advice is that imported cases of the virus pose a more significant threat to our national effort and our recovery.”
Road haulage and freight workers, medical professionals travelling to help the coronavirus effort, and seasonal agricultural workers who will self-isolate where they are working are exempt.
Passengers will need a receipt to prove they have provided officials with details about where they will quarantine themselves. They must complete the contact locator form before travelling, Ms Patel said.
People will be able to quarantine in a family member or friend’s home, in a hotel, bed and breakfast or hostel. But they will not have to avoid family members or friends living in that house.
Ms Patel confirmed the Government is looking at “international travel corridors” to low-infection countries.
She said: “Currently, there should only be essential travel but we continue to explore all options for future safe travel.
“Any international approaches will be bilateral and agreed with the other countries concerned.
“We need to ensure that those countries are deemed to be safe. We are not alone in our fight against this disease or in the measures we have taken to stop it.”
Britain has opened talks to establish air bridges with Spain, France, Greece and Portugal as many European countries look to attract holidaymakers this summer.
Portugal’s foreign minister Augusto Santos Silva said: “Our diplomats will work together in order to guarantee that British tourists coming to Portugal would not be subjected on their return to England to any kind of quarantine.”
Germany will lift a travel ban for European Union member states plus Britain from June 15, as long as there are no entry bans or largescale lockdowns in those countries.
Ms Patel said the contact tracing forms could be expanded to show whether travellers have been tested for Covid-19. She said: “We have created the contact locator form and it is that data that will be instrumental in basically giving people that safe passage, that clearance to go through and transit on to other locations.”
BRINGING in the quarantine on Monday is effectively hanging up a sign that says: “The United Kingdom is closed for business.”
The campaigns to scrap the mandatory self-isolation scheme are not just about whether Mr and Mrs Bloggs can sit on their sunloungers by the pool in Majorca this summer reading their Kindles and enjoying a glass of sangria.
It’s about much more than that – namely hundreds of thousands of British jobs and billions of pounds at risk.
I cannot see the quarantine scheme being abandoned before Monday, so the real question is: how long will it be in place as concerted pressure mounts on the Home Office?
My best guess is that it will stay in effect until the first review date on June 28 as a face-saving exercise for the department while “air bridges” are set up to Europe – a Europe which is trying to open up, not close down.
If the quarantine does continue throughout the summer then it won’t be a question of “when can we all go on holiday abroad again” but “will there be any holiday industry left to take us”.
The catastrophic effect of the pandemic on our tourism industry simply cannot be understated.
And this quarantine is like throwing a drowning man a brick instead of a lifebelt.