The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the world to a virtual standstill until recently, where we are starting to see a number of countries beginning to ease their own restrictions now that their respective curves are being flattened. And for them, that's great news. Things will start to return to normal in Thailand, Italy, Greece and a whole host of other places across the world. And rightfully so, these should be baby steps forward.
The same cannot be said for the UK, which has the worst death toll in Europe and the second highest in the world. This is a shocking statistic and nothing short of a national tragedy, one that could have easily been avoided if the correct plans had been put in place at the right moments in time by competent individuals. Sadly, little has been done, and what has, was too late.
This brings me neatly onto the UK's new quarantine policy which comes into play on 8th June. June. Yes... June. Not March. Not April. Not May. June.
The UK government was well aware this pandemic was coming; it knew about it since December 2019. Holidays were taken, COBRA meetings were routinely missed. Between then and now, huge numbers of people have come to the UK via its airports, sea ports and train network, and not one has been made to have a temperature check, sign a health declaration, undertake a test or enter quarantine. Only now is a quarantine being implemented, months after places like Hong Kong, Seoul and Singapore all implemented such measures with excellent effect, though months earlier.
The UK Home Office or London's Heathrow airport (as the main gateway to the UK) have done precious little in terms of safeguarding the UK population from this illness being brought in from abroad, and that should be a mark that hangs over the government and airport management when this is all over. And now a quarantine is being imposed by the government, those who manage the airport are calling it too little, too late. Then why didn't they do something about it at the start of the year?
I went to Thailand at the end of January, and while there I must have been temperature checked at least 20 times a day. I was scanned on leaving the plane at Suvarnabhumi, again before immigration, and then onwards and every day thereafter, from entering/leaving my hotel, to entering the transport network, to entering tourist sites or museums, to shopping malls and even when I got massages. It was focussed, everyone had to do it, and everyone abided by it, and it worked. This was joined up with the use of hand sanitiser dispensers everywhere and the use of masks by virtually everyone I saw. What has the UK done? Well... nothing like that. And look where we are.
The policy of a mandatory 14-day quarantine for everyone upon entry into the UK (with some exceptions) was described by our entirely inept Home Secretary as a measure to halt a second wave of infection reaching the UK. It's a shame they didn't do this to halt the first wave, don't you think?
It's widely believed (and I agree) that this will have a staggering impact upon the UK economy and the travel industry
And this policy is absolutely riddled with loopholes, errors and inconsistencies, summarised below:
This applies to everyone entering the UK with the exception of those travelling from the Common Travel Area which comprises the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and the Republic of Ireland - and this in itself has loopholes.
This opens the gates for people to use the Republic of Ireland as a route to avoid quarantine, and that could be achieved by arriving from another country and making an immediate connection at Dublin airport (only using Aer Lingus) to a UK airport to avoid Ireland's own quarantine policy. This means you could access the UK, and not be quarantined, thus making the point of the quarantine moot.
Arrivals will be expected to fill in a form with their contact details and accommodation arrangements so that they can be contacted if required, or if someone they have come into contact with has been identified as having the disease.
The stupid thing about this is that it isn't fully enforced by UK Border Force and only spot-checks will be carried out. If you aren't going to check everyone, then don't bother; all or nothing should apply. It should be a simple matter of checking everyone's paperwork along with their passports. All you'd need to do would be to disable all automated passport control gates and have everything done manually.
Those arriving in the UK (both residents and visitors) are expected to travel onwards to their accommodation (as stated on their form that might be checked), and should do this by car, with someone they know and avoid public transport.
This is utterly baffling. The government have said they won't provide any onward transportation. So firstly, how many visitors to the UK actually know someone here who has a car? I imagine that figure is absolutely miniscule. Secondly, and this applies particularly to Londoners arriving at LHR and LGW, how many of those own/know someone with a car? London's car ownership is really low compared to other large British cities because of the size and frequency of the public transport system which links directly to both LHR and LGW in various ways and the ease of access this allows. This means even though people are advised not to, many will have no choice other than to use the public transport system, which increases their risk of catching the virus from our already heavily infected population (though it is granted that London has the lowest infection rate in the country despite having the largest population, around 1/9th of the country).
Once you've arrived at your accommodation (which don't forget, may or may not be checked/verified by UK Border Force) you're expected to not leave it, even to buy food unless there's someone else to do that for you. UK authorities can telephone or call in and check that you're there.
Again this is totally baffling. How can visitors be expected to not leave a hotel even to eat? Again, only a miniscule number of visitors would know someone who could drop their food off for them. Either that or they spend a fortune on room service which is also not viable, unless the government reimburses them for those costs which, let's be honest, isn't going to happen. They would have to go out to get food and water; there'd be no choice. What if a UK resident lives on their own, or isn't near family, or friends? People have to eat. The fine if caught could be £1000, which is insane. This should have been the fine applied to the droves of UK citizens who have spent the last two months flouting lockdown rules by going to the beach and having house parties, or doing the conga with the rest of their street for VE Day which are clearly reasons why our infection rate is still as high as it is; the policing of lockdown (again the responsibility of the Home Secretary to manage) has been virtually non-existent.
Certain professions are exempt from the quarantine policy, and include truck drivers, medical professionals, transport staff and some seasonal agricultural workers. The full list is here and has some very interesting entries (nuclear emergency responder, anyone?) This also applies to those UK residents who travel once a week to another country for work.
Again, ridiculous. While I agree these are generally key areas, working in that area doesn't make them immune to catching the virus nor are they any less risk to the UK population than anyone else. I also think that those who travel to another country for work should be part of the quarantine; their going in and out of the country on a regular basis makes it far more likely they'll be to-ing and fro-ing while incubating the virus which they've contracted either in the UK or in another country which is doubly bad. If we have learnt once thing in the last few months it's that work can go on relatively unimpeded using technology such as videoconferencing; you don't need to travel abroad for work unless you're one of those jobs listed above, but that isn't how it's worded on the government website.
UK Border Force will not carry out COVID-19 testing on arrivals, as is the case in a number of other countries.
Again, idiotic. Why not? Just do it. It's another layer of protection for everyone. Other countries (in particular Iceland) are carrying this out as a means of working out who has/has not got the virus, so is arguably far safer and more proactive than a blanket (but not quite blanket) quarantine.
Health certificates are not recognised by UK Border Force.
I think you can tell what I am going to say about this, too. Idiotic. Maybe they should change their name to UK Border Farce.
The policy will be reviewed every three weeks.
Ok, fine. I would hazard a guess that it last no longer than six weeks in total, though I don't think it should be implemented at all. The kick-back on this, particularly from aviation, has been absolutely astounding but the government continue to lumber headlong into another crisis of their own making.
When you factor in that the UK are implementing this literally 6 months after the outbreak of COVID-19, and almost 3 months after the UK went into semi-lockdown (it was never a real lockdown, no matter what way you paint it), one might wonder why this is being bothered with. After all, our current levels of infection and death are colossal, and so bringing this into practice long after our curve has heightened to almost unrivalled heights to allegedly stop a second wave that may not materialise just seems like far too much, and far too late. One thing that I've not mentioned is the inability for UK passport holders to travel much anyway; Greece, who are looking to open up to summer tourism quite swiftly, have already confirmed that our presence is not desired due to our government's total inability to handle the crisis. And who would blame them?
If it were up to me, I would bar entry from any national of a country (regardless of where they've flown in from) with a similar (or worse) infection rate per head than ours. I think currently that would leave but a handful of countries, namely the USA, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Brazil, and Russia on the list of persona non grata. You would then take their own evolving figures into account alongside our own in terms of then allowing access to the UK. Much like what everywhere else is doing. That, and of course, mass testing, which is something our government keeps saying they'll do, and never managing to actually get off the ground; a bit like a dad saying he'll build you a treehouse when you were younger - it sounds great but you know he's just a bit lazy and useless so it's not going to happen.
Note: Interestingly (and probably quite predictably) France have just responded with announcing a 14-day quarantine period for anyone arriving into France from the UK as of 8th June, regardless of their nationality. I expect Germany and the other larger European nations will be close behind.
This is going to wreak absolute havoc on the aviation and transportation sectors of the UK, as well as hospitality and tourism, all of which are already on their knees and need as much help from the government as they can get. Instead, what has the UK government done? Hamstrung them for another period of weeks. It's another example of shooting yourself in the foot from a zombie government lumbering through a crisis without any proactivity or forethought, one that's been appallingly managed by everyone involved.