UK working on reducing quarantine restrictions, says Matt Hancock
Health secretary Matt Hancock today said that the government was working on ways to reduce the 14-day quarantine period for travellers from countries with heavy incidences of coronavirus, in a rare glimmer of light for the struggling travel industry.
Speaking on LBC radio this morning, Hancock confirmed that ministers were looking at ways to test new arrivals in the UK “as soon as is practical”.
“We are working to find a way that would allow for the quarantine to be reduced, but done in a way that also keeps people safe”, he said.
Hancock said that a test after eight days was one of the steps being considered, but ruled out airport testing, which many people in the travel industry have been pushing for.
“The reason [airport testing] doesn’t work is because this virus can incubate for a period inside your body without a test being able to pick it up”, he added.
Yesterday it emerged that a group of chief executives of the UK’s airports had written to PM Boris Johnson saying that 110,000 jobs were at risk if the current quarantine regime was not replaced within a week.
“We cannot currently envisage an end to this struggle, and without robust Government support there is real possibility of irreparable damage being done to our once world beating aviation sector”, the letter, which was seen by the Telegraph, said.
Writing in Morning Wire today, Liam McKay, director of corporate affairs at London City Airport, said that the government should work with business on a solution to the quarantine problem.
“What we need now is for the Government to work with partner countries and, in particular, the business community, so we can quickly agree an approach and methodology to testing”, he said.
“And even an interim solution, while the Government perfects its national roll out of track and trace, can re-open key routes and give people the confidence to travel to and from our city.”
On Thursday lawmakers will debate the issue, as well as the general state of the aviation industry, in parliament, with several Tory backbenchers believed to be ready to urge the government to adopt airport testing.
Huw Merriman, chair of the transport select committee, said that the failure to endorse the step, which countries such as Germany have implemented, was “adding further barriers to travel”.