Disease screening at airports – minister defends policy
THE Health Secretary has defended the Government’s decision not to shut UK airports and carry out routine testing for anybody entering the country.
The Government has been widely criticised for not closing airports as the UK continues to battle the coronavirus pandemic.
Around 15,000 passengers are still entering the country every day, and no routine testing for Covid-19 is being carried out.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain on Thursday Health Secretary Matt Hancock explained that airport testing has not been made available due to the “low amount” of people entering the country.
On the show, presenter Piers Morgan told Mr Hancock: “It doesn’t make sense to people that we are allowing tens of thousands of people a day to come into our airports, walk into our communities without even a basic test.”
The Health Secretary responded: “We do, of course, have different treatment for people who have come from different places according to how serious the outbreak is.”
Mr Hancock was then asked how many people are being tested at airports upon entering the country.
He said: “Well, we don’t routinely test at airports because the number of people coming through has dropped very dramatically and so there is very, very low amounts [of people entering the country].”
When asked how many people have flown into UK airports this week, Mr Hancock said: “It’s about 15,000 a day at the moment.”
He added: “It matters that we reduce the rate of transmission. At the current rate of transmission here, the scientists say that the epidemiological impact of keeping the travel open is very small because of the already large transmission here.
“But what I want to do is see the transmission rates here come down which is why following this guidance is so important.”
As a result of plummeting passenger numbers, some nearby airports, such as London City Airport, have chosen to close completely for the foreseeable future.
Heathrow and Gatwick, the UK’s first and second largest airports, are still open and some flights are running out of them - however a lot of these are repatriation flights as well as urgent flights carrying essential supplies and cargo, as even passenger jets often carry cargo.
While the UK remains in this period of lockdown, even though national borders are not closed, the government has advised against all but essential international travel.