LONDON – Britain, overwhelmed by a rapidly spreading coronavirus variant and desperate to keep other mutations out of the country, tightened its travel restrictions on Wednesday, requiring British citizens from 22 high-risk countries to arrive in hotels on their own for ten days quarantine. issue.
The policy borders Britain closer to the strict hotel quarantine imposed by Australia and several Asian countries. But it does not come under the requirement of a blanket, and it draws criticism that it will not shut the country off of dangerous new variants, even though it paralyzes the already wounded travel and aviation industries.
“There are still too many people coming in and out of our country every day,” Interior Minister Priti Patel said in parliament, announcing the new measures, which are also aimed at stopping Britons from entering the country. to leave the country.
“Going on holiday is not an exemption,” she said. Patel added and noted that there were reports that people at the St. Pancras station in London arrived with their skis to board the Eurostar train en route to ski resorts in the Alps.
For the time being, the hotel quarantine restrictions will be limited to countries that are already considered high risk due to the emergence of variants, such as South Africa and Brazil, and other South American countries. But Patel said the government could expand the list to include other countries with a prevalence of new variants of the virus.
Under the new rules, arriving passengers will be taken from the airport to nearby hotels, where they will have to stay in their rooms for ten days at their own expense. With a few exceptions, non-British citizens of these 22 countries have already been banned from traveling to Britain. Departing travelers will have to give a reason for their trip and can be turned away at the airport or train station.
Public health experts said the plan had too many loopholes, especially given London’s status as an international hub. “It will not be effective because people will only join other countries to prevent quarantine,” said Devi Sridhar, head of the global public health program at the University of Edinburgh.
The debate over how comprehensive the policy should be and whether everyone arriving in Britain should be included has divided Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s cabinet. British newspapers reported that Patel was among the ministers who argued to go further, but by Mr. Johnson was dominated – a rift picked up by opposition parties.
Joanna Cherry, a lawmaker from the Scottish National Party, said in a tense exchange of words to Ms. Patel asked why she had not acted so far, as she publicly acknowledged that it would have been a good idea to close borders earlier.
“What stopped her?” Ask Cherry. “Was it her colleagues in the cabinet, and if so, why did she not resign and speak out, given the risk of people entering the country more?
Britain’s new travel policy took place on a day when the prime minister offered a preliminary roadmap to emerge from the third national exclusion since the start of the pandemic in March last year, but made it clear there would be no relaxation in February . Mr. Johnson warned that schools would only reopen on March 8 – and only then if Britain controlled hospital admissions and achieved its goal of vaccinating 15 million of the country’s most vulnerable people by mid-February.
The message was a disappointment to parents who were hoping schools might reopen after a mid-term break in February. And it highlighted how dire the situation is in Britain, with more than 37,000 people in hospitals with Covid-19, almost twice the number of patients than during the first peak of the pandemic last spring.
Opposition leaders have accused the government of sending mixed messages – a recurring failure that they say was part of Britain’s highest death toll in Europe, with more than 100,000 deaths. On Wednesday, Britain reported 1,725 additional deaths, making it the second deadliest day of the pandemic.
“Our schools are closed and our borders are open,” Labor leader Keir Starmer told parliament, saying in a video link from home where he was isolated, “and my biggest concern is that the prime minister still has not learned the lessons of last year. I fear we will see more tragedy and grim milestones as a result. ”
Mr. Starmer called on the government to use the holiday in February to vaccinate teachers and school staff in front of other candidates.
But the government argues that its priorities for the vaccine are determined by scientific advice, which is aimed at the most vulnerable, much by age. Officials argue that teachers do not run a higher risk of dying from coronavirus than people in other professions. Mr. Johnson challenges Starmer to explain what vaccinations he will take from vulnerable groups to make sense of his policies. “
Although the quarantine rules were not as comprehensive as they could have been, the travel industry has expressed concern about the impact of growing restrictions.
“The UK travel and tourism sector is in a struggle for survival,” Gloria Guevara Manzo, chief executive officer of the World Travel & Tourism Council, an industry organization, said in a statement. “With the sector in such a fragile state, the imposition of hotel quarantine by the British government could force the total collapse of travel and tourism.”
In a letter to Johnson, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, easyJet and other airlines called for more government assistance, warning that airlines in the country “could not survive a second summer season without significant revenue or additional support.”
But Johnson’s plan for a route outside the closure suggests that there is little hope of easing restrictions. According to the timetable announced on Wednesday, the government will review the effectiveness of its vaccination campaign, as well as evidence whether the closure has reduced infections and hospital admissions.
Based on the results, Mr. Johnson said the government would publish a detailed plan during the week of Feb. 22 that could set out when the government would lift restrictions – and reopen everything from schools to pubs.
“It will be a timetable that will inevitably be adaptable,” he said. Johnson said. Nevertheless, he calls it “a road map that we can take with us and use to defeat the virus.”