By Ben Kerrigan-
The Scottish and Welsh governments have called on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to toughen UK travel restrictions even further in response to the Omicron variant of coronavirus.
In a joint letter to Mr Johnson today, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford have called for an emergency COBRA meeting to be held “as soon as possible” due to the latest COVID-19 development.
The urgent call follows the discovery of six cases of the Omicron variant being found in Scotland, with three detected in England.
On the “potential threat” to the UK of the Omicron variant, they wrote: “We need to work collectively – and effectively – as four nations to take all reasonable steps to control the ingress of the virus to the country and then to limit its spread.”
Ms Sturgeon and Mr Drakeford also called for travel rules to be toughened further with people entering the UK asked to isolate for eight days and the re-introduction of a PCR test on day eight after their arrival.
The prime minister has increased travel restrictions in response to the discovery of the Omicron variant, with 10 southern African countries added to the UK’s travel red list over the weekend.
The discovery of the variant has sparked panic in many parts of the world, but the doctor who discovered it has called for calm ion the midt of the panic, stating that ther eis no need to
“Amsterdam, the Netherlands – October 14, 2012: The entrance of Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam in the evening with purple flowers in front of the airport hall. In the background some people standing outside.”
Couple with COVID-19 arrested on plane after fleeing Dutch quarantine hotel
Fully vaccinated people entering the UK from all other destinations are only required to self-isolate until the provision of a negative result from a PCR test taken before the end of day two after their arrival.
Speaking at a news conference, Ms Sturgeon said: “We know, however, that the incubation period for this virus is very often more than two days.
“So our view is it would be sensible, on a precautionary basis, for these travel rules to be tightened further.
“That’s a view shared by the Welsh government. I had a call yesterday with First Minister Mark Drakeford and he and I have written this morning a joint letter to the prime minister.
“We’re proposing a tougher four-nations approach to travel restrictions at this stage that would see people arriving in the UK from overseas asked to self-isolate for eight days.
“Under our proposal, they would take a PCR test on day eight of their arrival, as well as on day two.
“We believe this measure would be more effective in identifying cases of this variant that result from overseas travel and therefore help us prevent further community transmission from imported cases.”
The discovery of the variant has sparked panic in many parts of the world, but the doctor who discovered it has called for calm in the midst of the panic, stating that there is no need to panic.
Preliminary evidence suggests the omicron variant is more transmissible than the delta variant, but the precise nature in terms of all its symptoms is unknown. There are also concerns the new virus could evade other variants.
On Sunday morning talk shows, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the White House’s chief medical adviser, told several U.S news outlets that it is inevitable that the omicron variant will reach the U.S, and warning that it may be more transmissible than other variants, even delta. He also stressed that while there’s much we don’t know about omicron, it’s better to be safe — and possibly overreact — than sorry.
“We just really need to, as I’ve said so often, prepare for the worst,” Fauci told ABC News’ “This Week.” “It may not be that we’re going to have to go the route that people are saying. We don’t know a lot about this virus. So, we want to prepare as best we can, but it may turn out that this preparation, although important, may not necessarily push us to the next level.”
“This is a story that’s based entirely on speculation,” Dr. Jonathan Reiner told CNN. “We will have data from really hardworking scientists over the next few weeks that will help inform how we can put this new variant into context.