An alternative to the ‘quarantine quagmire’ has been put forward by the chief executive of Trailfinders.
Toby Kelly described the UK government’s planned 14-day quarantine on visitors from countries other than France as a “kneejerk, when, until now, we have allowed hundreds of thousands to arrive unmonitored, untested, unmasked”.
He added: “France is high on the C19 [Covid-19] league tables, so why the ‘golden ticket’?
“It has been said, we would be unable to enforce such a quarantine.
“We await the detail on whether the quarantined are allowed to exercise or go to the supermarket. How do they travel from the airport to their quarantine?
“Pragmatically, we have accepted we can’t be risk free, all we can do is ameliorate those risks,” Kelly said.
A more workable plan would be:
- Temperature tests at departure and arrival airports.
- Facemasks to be worn through airports and on planes.
- Covid-19 test on arrival.
- Each passenger with a smart phone or tablet must downloaded the tracking app.
“Beyond that, arrivals will follow the same rules as the rest of us,” Kelly said.
“Britain by virtually any measure is amongst the most affected and most infected in the world, why are we worried about people coming from, or returning from countries that, are for the most part, far less affected?”
His comments came as pilots union Balpa called the quarantine a “blunt tool”.
General secretary Brian Strutton said: “A blanket 14-day quarantine period covering the whole world – except Ireland and France apparently – will significantly damage the travel and tourism industry and therefore the whole economy.
“We have seen no evidence that such a blanket policy is needed and would strongly urge the government to move to a targeted and tailored approach according to destination and risk.
“In addition, the industry needs to be able to plan. So far we don’t know the start date, the proposed end date, when and how the policy will be reviewed and what the stop and start criteria for the policy might be.
“When other countries are opening up their borders and using evidence-led, targeted approaches, this feels like a bludgeon which will simply do huge economic harm.
“We also need to see more details such as what the list of exemptions might be – that must include crew, although we have not had that confirmed yet.”
More: Trailfinders reiterates calls for mandatory escrow accounting
Trailfinders flags ‘war chest of cash’ to counter travel downturn
