By Ben Kerrigan-
Effective Covid-19 screening at airports will be the most effective way of safeguarding the British public from infected passengers coming into the UK, and are much more preferable to the government’s quarantine rules to come into effect this week
Thermal imaging cameras on tripods are expected to automatically scan everyone who arrives a Heathroe terminal down at the terminal, but may not provide an accurate detection of COVID-19.
News of a 14-day quarantine rule for travellers coming into the UK has been greeted with criticism, but is aimed at protecting the British public. However, the rules also have the downside of putting off passengers who are travelling to the country for a holiday, not to be confined to the four walls of a room in any accommodation.
Under the current plans passengers at all ports and airports have to go into self-isolation for 14 days, starting in a few weeks. They will be ordered to give the address where they are quarantining and could be forced into a government-run quarantine facility. The plans due to be announced within days will extend to all arrivals into the UK with a number of exemptions, reportedly including hauliers and Covid-19 research scientists.
Travellers will be asked to quarantine for 14 days when they enter the UK and expected to provide either an accommodation of their choice or can reside at one provided by the government where there are no other options. An implementation date has not yet been announce. The decision is to prevent passengers from allowing the spread of the virus has come late in the day, as critics believe it should have been made when the pandemic first began.
The frustrating aspect of the precautionary measure is the absence of any end date to the rules. Airline bosses are frightened about the impact it will have on air travel, but the government is torn between that and keeping the British people safe from further infections coming from abroad.
Only a reliable screening mechanism will be satisfactory in keeping both the British public safe and preventing airlines from being crippled further by the devastating impact of Covid-19. That mechanism may require direct testing for Covid-19 at airports.