UK border crackdown over mutant strain
Boris orders the closure of ALL travel corridors from Monday to protect from new Covid variants
BORIS Johnson abruptly scrapped the ‘travel corridor’ list of safe countries last night amid fears over the growing threat of mutant coronavirus strains.
The Prime Minister said the dramatic new measures were needed to prevent any ‘as of yet unidentified strains’ of Covid entering and derailing Britain’s vaccination drive.
He also warned that ministers will be ramping up enforcement of the rules, ‘both at the border and in-country’. This will see Border Force officers increasing the number of checks on arrivals at airports and ports.
The change means travellers from anywhere in the world will have to quarantine for ten days after arriving in the UK, unless they have a negative test after five days. The measure will come into force at 4am on Monday.
It follows intense criticism of the Government for being too slow to tighten border restrictions or ban flights from countries where new variants have taken hold.
Previously, there were 63 countries on the travel corridor list – including holiday destinations such as Vietnam, Thailand and the Maldives – which meant travellers did not have to quarantine on return due to the countries having low infection rates.
All UK arrivals will also have to show proof of a pre-flight negative coronavirus test, taken within 72 hours of travel.
Airlines and ferry operators will be forced to check these, and anyone without one will not be able to board their flight or ferry.
Those caught breaking the rules face fines of between £200 and £6,400.
The move comes on top of yesterday’s ban on direct passenger flights from Argentina, Brazil, Cape Verde and Portugal – including Madeira and the Azores.
Travellers who have been in any South American country, Cape Verde or Portugal in
‘Vital to take these measures now’
the previous ten days are also banned from entering Britain. The measures were imposed after a Brazilian mutant strain emerged which it is feared could prove more resistant to the vaccines being rolled out. It came as:
The global death toll from coronavirus passed two million, according to a study by the Johns Hopkins University in the US;
In Britain, a further 1,280 people with coronavirus died within 28 days of a positive test, taking the total to 87,291;
Another 55,761 new cases were reported, up from 48,682 the previous day;
The R rate of transmission fell slightly to between 1.2 and 1.3, indicating the lockdown is having some effect;
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps suggested people should be wary before booking a summer holiday.
At a Downing Street briefing last night Mr Johnson said: ‘It’s vital to take these measures now as day by day and hour by hour we are making such strides in protecting the population [with the vaccine].
‘At this crucial stage what we can’t have is new variants with unknown qualities coming in from abroad and that’s why we’ve set up the system to stop arrivals from places where there are new variants of concern and set up the extra tough measures that I’ve outlined.’
The Government’s chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said the new restrictions were important because new variants are likely to develop ‘all over the world’.
The suspension of travel corridors will be reviewed on February 15.
It comes after intense criticism in recent days at the Government’s failure to bring in testing at borders until ten months into the pandemic.
Other countries have had testing requirements in place for months.
But the fact the new testing measures will not be introduced until Monday was also criticised. It means travellers will be able to continue pouring in this weekend without needing to show a negative test result.
Separately, data obtained by the Mail reveals nearly 100 flights arrived in the UK from Portugal – a popular transit hub for travellers coming from Brazil – in the week running up to the flights ban on both countries.
Data provided by travel analysts Cirium and NATS show 91 arrived between January 6 and 13. Several passengers were potentially on the second leg of their journey to the UK on an indirect flight from Brazil.
Labour home affairs spokesman Nick Thomas-Symonds said: ‘As ever, ministers are too slow to act and it’s putting people at serious risk.’
Professor Lawrence Young, a virologist at Warwick University, said: ‘This decision to close all travel corridors along with enforcing virus testing and quarantine for incoming travellers feels a bit like closing the stable door after the horse has bolted.’
The ban on flights from Portugal triggered a diplomatic row yesterday, with the country’s foreign secretary branding it ‘absurd’. Augusto Santos Silva, who has demanded a meeting with his UK counterpart Dominic Raab, said the move was ‘sudden and unexpected’ and ‘without logic’.
The travel industry reacted sympathetically to the announcement. Tim Alderslade, chief executive of Airlines UK, said: ‘Things change and there’s no doubting this is a serious health emergency.’