Vaughan Gething to introduce resort Defends decision quarantine rules
WALES’ Health Minister has defended the introduction of quarantine restrictions on travellers returning from Portugal, Gibraltar, French Polynesia and six Greek islands.
Vaughan Gething said there had been a “rising tide of infections” coming from the Greek islands and insisted the measure had been imposed to keep Wales safe.
On Thursday evening the Welsh Government announced that travellers arriving from Portugal, Gibraltar, French Polynesia and six Greek islands from 4am yesterday would have to self-isolate for 14 days.
The Azores and Madeira are exempt from the quarantine requirement, which applies to the Greek islands of Mykonos, Zakynthos, Lesvos, Paros, Antiparos and Crete.
One holidaymaker in Crete slammed the Welsh Government’s decision as “an absolute joke” and said it was “beyond sense that they are taking this approach”.
But Mr Gething told the BBC yesterday there had been “very clear advice” from the Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC), as well as a number of cases of coronavirus being imported into Wales.
On Tuesday the Welsh Government advised passengers returning from Zakynthos, which is also known as Zante, to quarantine for two weeks and offered Covid-19 tests within 48 hours of their return, as well as eight days later.
“That was because in the week before we had over 30 cases from four different flights, two of which had landed in England,” Mr Gething told the BBC.
“On that flight which landed in Cardiff on Tuesday, there are over 20 direct cases – that’s more than 10% of that flight.
“Seeing a rising tide of infections coming in from that list of islands, having that direct experience in Wales and very clear advice about the higher risk to UK public health from the JBC, I did not feel that there was any course of action other than taking some form of action.
“It’s not for me to explain why others haven’t done that, but I’m very clear that we’re following that advice and keeping Wales safe.”
The UK Government has decided not to impose restrictions on people entering England from Greece and Portugal.
Scotland and Wales are imposing 14 days of isolation on arrivals from Portugal.
Scotland is also including Greece on its quarantine list, though in Wales the restriction only applies to the six named Greek islands.
When asked about the different approach taken by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps in Westminster, Mr Gething said: “I’m very content this is the right thing to do.
“It’s in line with the risk assessments we received from both the JBC and Public Health England.”
He said the reason the Azores and Maderia had been excluded from Wales’ list was because they had a different rating, as well as testing on entry. Comparing the differences with the varying states of lockdown, Mr Shapps admitted the differing approaches between UK nations was “confusing”.
He told BBC Breakfast: “You have four nations looking at, say, one country, Portugal for example, and they have the data of that country and make a decision.
“We do speak, but I’m afraid quite often come to slightly different outcomes, which I realise is confusing
for people.”
There were 23.0 Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people in Portugal in the seven days to Wednesday, up from 15.3 a week earlier.
In Greece, the seven-day coronavirus case rate is 13.8. It is 15.3 in Ireland and 14.7 in the UK.
Figures have been calculated by the PA news agency based on data collected by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
A seven-day rate of 20 is the threshold above which the UK Government has considered triggering quarantine conditions.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson later insisted that “overwhelmingly the UK is proceeding as one” after Mr Shapps admitted “confusion” over differing rules across the union.
Mr Shapps defended the decision not to impose restrictions on people entering England from Greece and Portugal despite Scotland and Wales ordering periods of isolation to slow the spread of coronavirus.
But there were questions over whether the Westminster Government was heeding the advice of the JBC, which advises on the threat faced by travel from foreign nations. The Scottish Government defended its decision to impose a 14-day quarantine for arrivals from the tourist destinations after Mr Shapps suggested it had “jumped the gun” on Greece.
The Prime Minister said that different devolved administrations have “different rates of infectivity” and approaches to the crisis.
“But overwhelmingly the UK is proceeding as one,” he said, during a visit to Solihull.
“I think you will find if you dig below the surface of some of the surface differentiations, you will find overwhelmingly the UK takes the same approach.
“I do realise it creates confusion for people not to have a single rule, but we do have this devolved approach throughout the United Kingdom and I can only be responsible for the English part of that,” he told Sky News.
The Cabinet minister said the Government’s review concluded no changes were necessary partly because “test positivity for example in Portugal actually came down” while the number of cases overall in Greece had fallen.
But the Scottish Government spokesman said: “In the case of Portugal, it was unfortunate that the UK Government announced their decision yesterday before ministers from England, Scotland and Northern Ireland met and before considering the latest Joint Biosecurity Centre data.
“This indicated a significant rise in both the prevalence of the virus in Portugal and in test positivity.”
Downing Street did not deny that the advice from the JBC was that travel from Portugal and the six Greek islands restricted by Wales presents a risk of spreading coronavirus.
A No.10 spokesman said: “Ministers assess the data which is provided by JBC and the JBC risk assessments are assessed by ministers.”
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister continued to resist pressure from airline bosses to use testing upon entry to minimise the quarantine period, saying isolation would remain “vital”.
He said he understands “the difficulties” the industry is going through but said testing at points of entry only identifies 7% of the cases.
“So 93% of the time you could have a real false sense of security, a false sense of confidence when you arrive and take a test,” he said. “That’s why the quarantine system that we have has got to be an important part of our toolbox in fighting Covid.”