BORIS Johnson has been urged to "sit up and listen" and close a travel loophole that could bring new variants of Covid into the UK.
It comes as Public Health England officials have written to Matt Hancock with concerns around variants detected in the UK being traced to European countries such as Germany, Portugal and Norway – none of which are currently on the UK government’s "red-list" of countries that requires passengers to enter into hotel quarantine.
UK residents and Irish nationals arriving in England from red list countries will have to quarantine in hotels selected by the government at a cost of £1750, with every additional adult, or child over 12, costing £650. Children aged five to 12 cost £325.
But in Scotland, all passengers on flights from overseas, except for Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, must isolate in one of the hotels.
READ MORE: Matt Hancock confident people can 'travel across the whole of the UK' this summer
A loophole means that travellers who have not come via a red list country can travel via the common travel area and are then allowed to self isolate for 10 days.
The concerns have renewed calls for the UK government to align with the Scottish Government’s approach that all passengers must quarantine at their first point of arrival, no matter what country they have flown in from.
Dr Philippa Whitford, the SNP’s shadow health spokesperson, said: "Warnings about the threat of new variants, from Public Health England, should make the UK government sit up and listen. Their quarantine system is not fit for purpose and has easily exploitable loopholes that need closed urgently.
“We know that despite Scotland eliminating almost all Covid strains last summer, international travel allowed new variants to be imported and contributed to the second wave in Scotland and the UK – we cannot risk that happening again.
“Everyone in Scotland and across the UK has made a collective effort to stop the spread of Covid and suppress the virus but we are in a fragile position and could easily see a third wave as suggested by the Chief Medical Officer, Chris Whitty.
“New, more vaccine-resistant, variants could put our route out of lockdown in serious jeopardy and it would be typical of this Tory government to jeopardise the progress of the vaccine programme because of its refusal to properly control UK borders.
“Boris Johnson must urgently review his red-list system and align with the Scottish Government’s approach of monitored hotel quarantine for everyone arriving into the UK, no matter which country they have travelled from.”
Earlier this month, Westminster was criticised for withholding the results of a completed review into its "red list" system from devolved nations.
READ MORE: Westminster 'withholding' completed review of red list Covid quarantine system
The Scottish Government has said it is following a more proactive than reactive approach by insisting on universal quarantine as it is impossible to predict where new, more dangerous variants of the coronavirus may emerge.
Giving evidence to Holyrood’s Health Committee, Transport Secretary Michael Matheson said: “The Joint Biosecurity Centre has already carried out a review of the existing countries and submitted a report to the UK Government on their review of the red list countries.
“However, to date, the UK Government have withheld that report from us.
“I've made representation to the UK Government on this matter, and I know colleagues from the other devolved nations made representations to the UK Government on this matter.”
Matheson said he was “continuing to press for that advice to be provided” and added: “There is a need for that to be addressed urgently.
“I made representations to the UK Government at the Covid-19 meeting just last week asking for that advice to be made available to us.
“But to date, it’s still not being provided.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel