After the best part of a year faffing about and generally allowing Covid to run riot through the country the UK government has decided to require a negative Covid test in the 72 hours before departure for the UK for all travellers - including UK citizens. Also, unless coming from designated countries, those people arriving will have to isolate - the stupidity continues though as unlike most other countries to get to where you are going to isolate you can travel by public transport. I just cannot understand how we have had such a hard hit from Covid compared to other islands like Australia (909), Ireland (2,307) and New Zealand (25).


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55582116

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You will have to do without pocket handkerchiefs, and a great many other things, before we reach our journey's end, Bilbo Baggins. You were born to the rolling hills and little rivers of the Shire, but home is now behind you. The world is ahead.

Should of been done at the beginning. My wife works at the airport and it's a disgrace....people coming into the UK transiting to other countries and being allowed to travel on public transport to other airports . Should just shut the airspace full stop . You wouldnt believe the amount of uk citizens coming back making bullsxxx excuses about why they were abroad and having no intention of self isolating .........

It's not just a UK thing. Where I live, three local city councillors have admitted that they travelled overseas to visit family, knowing full well that non-essential travel is strongly discouraged (but still allowed). One hopped over to Seattle, one went to a wedding (!) in Mexico, and one went to visit family in Somalia.

I cancelled my plans to travel to visit my parents at Christmas. Most people seem to take the right actions, but a small handful of folks seem to think they are better than the rest of us.

There are no legal consequences - I just hope that voters remember these actions during the next election.

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Bruce Clarke - 2020 Yamaha XV250

Same is now happening for Canada. All air passengers must have a negative Covid-19 test before even being allowed on board. But the way it's written it doesn't seem to apply to the land border. So anyone can still fly to a border city and cross on foot or by car without the test ...as long as they're Canadian residents/citizens or otherwise allowed to cross through a variety of existing exempt categories such as commerce. 14 day quarantine still applies.

Turning that in its head no citizen should think thet have the right to go on holiday in the middle of a pandemic then stroll back in and totally ignore the rules to quarantine . This has been going on for months now and if u decide to travel and get caught out then dont expect to get back to ur own country .......I include foreign nationals who transit thru here as direct flights are banned .

Correct. A government does, however, have the right to enforce mandatory self-isolation (directly airport to isolation hotel) to prevent a pandemic.

Your right to go on holiday is not greater than someone else's right to not die.

Seems to me that while perhaps a government should not forbid their citizens from entering, they or an airline can certainly set requirements for carrying those citizens in an airplane. Similarly: bus, taxi, or train. Someone has to be able to say that you or I, with symptoms or in the absence of a negative test, can't board a plane.

Plus a government can, as stated above, enforce all sorts of rules once citizens (or others) are granted entry.

Mark

I agree with your premis, however, it was made pretty damn clear by most governments when the outbreak started to get the hell home - now.

Lots just didn’t think it would be a big deal, didn’t come back when told, and now are coming back. ALL of our Covid infections, including the new strain, are from returnee’s.

Though we are lucky living on an island.

There are calls here now to close the borders, which I fully support, provided they offer those OS some limited support.

Right.

This happened in the USA before. About 10 years ago, during one of the bad Ebola outbreaks in Africa, there was a big stir because some of the health workers returning to the US from working in the field didn't follow their quarantine. People were pissed.

................shu

Where'd you get that from?

The UK has been hard hit because its government have been woefully (criminally, in my view) incompetent at every stage of the process. They have reacted late and lite, given out false and contradictory information, paid out huge sums to their cronies for junk, ignored warnings and science, failed to implement proper lockdown protocols and ignored their own advice without consequence to the individuals concerned. In February 2020 when other countries were locking down and morgues were filling up, all our government was doing was telling us to wash our hands while singing God Save the Queen. I think that sums it up.

Even today their reaction to the threat from abroad has been half hearted. There are "safe corridors" to countries where infection rates are lower than ours. Arrivals are not checked or quarantined, and there are no follow-ups in any case. Business travellers face no restrictions on travel whatsoever. A few months ago you could perhaps argue that UK rates were so high it didn't matter much if a few more infected folk came in from abroad, however against that now there are new more infectious variants arising in RSA and BRA, and we don't need those as well as our home grown new more infectious one. Plus of course, one infected person on a plane can infect dozens of others, all sitting in a tube full of recycled farts for 2 hours.

If we were taking this seriously there should be not only test certs for passengers before boarding, there should be 2 weeks mandatory quarantine in commandeered hotels as well. But we still aren't.

I wish my mrs could do a live blog from the airport she works at , the public would have a fxxxing fit . It's a total farce and travellers are taking the Pxxs by flying via another country that isnt on the banned list having left one that is .It is unbelievable what goes on re the lack of enforcement at airports......contrast with the ports where people are stopped questioned fined and turned around !!

HAVE.
Should HAVE been done...

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Hear the challenge, learn the lesson, pay the cost.

Well it now HAS been sorted

Blimey, that was a bit harsh. There's hardly a sentence written here that doesn't have some kind of error. See what I mean.

It's just the great vowel shift still shifting.