BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th May, 2020) The UK government's surprise move to force all air passengers into 14-day quarantine to avoid the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic amid gradually reopening borders across Europe might be seen as rather belated measure expected to seriously hit the tourism sector and reflecting the lack of a coordinated approach to the pandemic in Europe.
On Friday, UK Home Secretary Priti Patel announced at a briefing that everyone arriving in the United Kingdom from June 8 would have to spend two weeks in quarantine or they could face the fine for violating the self-isolation regime of 1,000 British Pounds ($1,220). Notably, until now, the UK had carried out few tests and checks on visitors, while the quarantine had only applied to travelers arriving from China when the pandemic started.
Patel said that passengers would have to fill in an online form giving all details about their destination in the UK, where they would have to spend 14 days in self-isolation, which means not going out at all from an apartment or house. At the same time, a person without suitable accommodation will have to stay in facilities provided by the government at the traveler's expense.
"We are not shutting down completely. We are not closing our borders. This is absolutely not about booking holidays. We want to avoid a second wave and that is absolutely vital," Patel added.
An important detail given by the home secretary was that, contrary to what had been previously announced, France would not be an exemption from the new rules.
On May 10, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, presenting his plan to avoid an increase in imported COVID-19 cases, that "it is soon time to impose quarantine measures on people arriving in the territories by air." Shortly after that, the UK government released a joint UK-France statement, saying that Emmanuel Macron and Johnson agreed during a phone call that no quarantine measures would apply to travelers arriving on the British territory from France.
"No quarantine measures would apply to travelers coming from France at this stage; any measures on either side would be taken in a concerted and reciprocal manner. A working group between the two governments will be set up to ensure this consultation throughout the coming weeks," the statement said.
The French are about 300,000 of a total of 3.1 million Europeans residing in Britain. The UK government did not give a length of time for its surprise measure at a time when the whole of Europe is deconfining and timidly reopening borders closed in March over the pandemic.
Paris' answer came nearly immediately after the announcement of the measures. Interior Minister Christophe Castaner in an icy press release expressed regret over the decision and warned about reciprocal measures as soon as new regulations came into force.
Meanwhile, the present UK-French row is not the only manifestation of the European cacophony when it comes to the sanitary measures taken by the governments.
Spain already has rules obliging arriving travelers to self-isolate for two weeks under close surveillance by the authorities. Greece and most other countries are currently instructing travelers to quarantine only if they are tested positive for COVID-19 upon arrival or in the next few days. Italy is opening to European travel on June 3.
Everybody speaks of a coordinated approach in Europe but nobody remains committed to it.
At a time when airlines � both flag-carriers and low-cost companies � are getting ready to start flying again, Britain imposes a quarantine that would reduce a great part of the hopes of airlines, hotels and the tourism sector in general.
Experts in the tourism sector are mostly skeptical about the UK government's measure, as most European countries have dealt with the epidemic and leveled the impact from the epidemic for the whole of Europe to a controlled evolution of contaminations.
"This announcement by the UK that they will impose a quarantine of 14 days for air or sea travellers coming to the country now at the end of May is not understandable. It is incredibly counter-productive for the economy, especially for us in tourism. It is a stab in the back for the tourism industry in France and on the continent but also in the UK since France and maybe other countries will decide a 'tit-for-tat' quarantine for British travelers. This is child play!" a travel agent from Brussels, Chantal Vandemoortele, told Sputnik.
According to Vandemoortele this measure would be justifiable two months ago when the pandemic hit Europe the hardest but not at the times when the rest of the European countries are gradually reopening.
"The Westminster government says they want to avoid a second peak. Right! But everybody in Europe is haunted by the fear of seeing a new peak that would hit hospitals this summer, with tired out nurses and doctors. But they should have imposed this quarantine two months ago, not now, as we are progressively deconfining everywhere in Europe," the expert stated, adding that even if the UK saw the second wave, it would likely not be imported.
Professor of Economics at UCLouvain university in Belgium Bertrand Candelon stressed that the UK's move proved that there was no common approach to combating pandemic in Europe, calling the obligatory quarantine an "astonishing measure."
"This measure taken unilaterally by the United Kingdom is astonishing while Europe is struggling against the epidemic, each in its corner. There is no European coordination. A Europe of Health does not exist. There are local travel agreements between Germany and Austria for example, or the Baltic countries, or the Netherlands and Belgium, but it is impossible to go from France to Belgium or vice versa until Macron contradicts his minister of health and renounces quarantine for Belgians coming to France. Impossible to go to Spain except with quarantine. And now it is the same for the UK, as Spain announces the reopening of its borders in early July and Italy in early June," Candelon told Sputnik.
According to Philippe De Leener, a sociology professor at UCLouvain, restrictive measures applied to those groups of people who are more at risk of getting coronavirus-related complications would be enough for keeping the outbreak under control.
"The present pandemic management and imposed containment are highly questionable. One may wonder where the rational foundation is. The coronavirus kills only less than 1 percent of the population and containment of at-risk audiences � seniors and people with co-morbidity factors � should have been enough to control the pandemic, by allowing the virus to reach the younger population, without cluttering hospital emergency departments. The result of this abusive and 'contagious' confinement that we have experienced is catastrophic for the economy and companies, especially SMEs, will take years to recover from it," De Leener said.
"It is to be hoped that Great Britain and others will stop this desire to put any traveler in quarantine for 14 days, without the possibility of going out. They should arrange to quickly test the arrivals and isolate them only if they are carriers of COVID-19. Current decisions are far too late and counterproductive," the expert added.
