AIRPORT coronavirus checks must be set up to screen all travellers arriving in the UK, a Scots MP has said.
Currently those landing in UK airports, including citizens being repatriated during the pandemic, are not tested for the virus before heading home, despite what we know about how quickly Covid-19 spreads.
Edinburgh South West’s Joanna Cherry pressed Home Secretary Priti Patel over matter on April 11.
Ten days later, she has written to the Home Secretary calling for urgent action, after weekend reports suggested that more than 260,000 people continue to arrive in the UK each week.
As many as 8000 of these passengers touch down in Scottish airports.
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Travel hubs in countries including Italy, Japan and more introduced temperature checks and other forms of screening weeks ago, with quarantine restrictions in place for new arrivals.
Cherry, the SNP’s shadow home secretary, claims the UK is now an “outlier” and will not successfully tackle this health crisis without putting such a system in place.
The matter is controlled by the UK Government under the devolution settlement, meaning Scottish authorities must defer to the Home Office.
Yesterday Cherry released a letter to Patel, which stated that “nothing has changed” in the UK’s handling of the matter since their April 11 exchange.
Commenting, the QC-turned-MP said: “It is deeply concerning that the Home Secretary has failed to act and is still allowing thousands of people to enter the UK without appropriate checks and measures in place.
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“Other countries in Europe and across the world have already introduced these measures, leaving the UK as an outlier.
“The UK Government has been far too slow to act and must now step up to prevent an increased risk of transmission.”
She went on: “For people to have confidence in the UK Government’s approach, it is crucial they put these long-overdue measures in place and set out how this will form part of a considered exit strategy.”
Cherry’s letter states: “It would be appropriate to include some form of health checks at airports and other points of entry to the UK for those arriving from abroad.
“I would like to propose that Covid-19 assessment points are set up after Border Control, with health checks, including virus testing, and instructions and advice about quarantine as a condition for admissions to the UK.
“I fully accept that health checks, even testing, would not catch every case of the virus that comes into the UK before communication.
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“However, given the rate of transmission of this virus, any significant interruption of the chain of transmission would seem to be worthwhile.
“Moreover, I am sure that border health control measures of the sort adopted by other countries might also serve to increase public confidence and support for the general approach as we move towards consideration of the conditions for a relaxing of lockdown.”
The Home Office has been contacted for comment but has yet to respond.
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