Welsh threat to English: Cross border and you face quarantine
CROssiNG the border from England into Wales could mean a spell in quarantine, the principality’s government warned yesterday.
The restriction should be imposed on those travelling from parts of England hardest hit by the virus, the Welsh government’s health minister said.
Vaughan Gething said he was considering options after Boris Johnson said he did not want to restrict those living in parts of England under lockdown going on holiday in Wales. First Minister Mark Drakeford
‘Very close to being overrun’
had previously written to the Prime Minister to urge him to introduce travel restrictions for people in areas of England under local lockdown.
however, it unclear how the quarantine might be enforced, given the open border between the two countries. it would have to rely on the regime of legally-backed fines currently used as a deterrent for breaching quarantine rules.
in Wales, residents must not enter or leave an area subjected to such restrictions without a reasonable excuse – which does not include travelling for a holiday. Mr Gething said at the Welsh government’s
Covid-19 press briefing yesterday: ‘We’re actively considering what we should do and i’ve discussed it this morning with the First Minister.
‘We have quarantine regulations for international travel. so for some of the hotspot areas [in England] … if they were other countries or territories, we would have quarantine regulations for them to return to the uk.’ Mr Gething told the press conference that coronavirus had ‘ grown significantly’ in Wales over the past month.
last week, an average of 73 cases per day were admitted to hospitals in the country with the virus. six months ago, this figure was around 150 per day and intensive care units were ‘very close to being overrun’, Mr Gething said.
‘if we can’t control the spread of the virus locally, we will see this happening again,’ he warned.
When asked about the proposals, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘That’s for the Welsh Government to determine.’
Andrew RT Davies, shadow health spokesman in Wales, told BBC Wales that quarantine measures would be a ‘dangerous slope’ and Welsh residents could face similar restrictions when they have travel into other parts of the uk.