BRITAIN’S coronavirus travel quarantine is too little, too late, an industry chief says.
Tony Tyler, former CEO of the International Air Transport Association, said Britain was “going the other way” by quarantining UK arrivals for 14 days while other countries opened their borders.
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In a damning assessment of the scheme, Mr Tyler said the rules were odd and they would be damaging to jobs and the economy. From June 8, anyone arriving in the UK faces a £1,000 fine if they do not self-isolate — including holidaymaking Brits.
But there is now pressure to ditch the plan from business leaders, MPs and former Tory and Labour ministers.
“There’s a case for quarantine as an element of a well-planned strategy of response to infection threat,” Mr Tyler said.
“But it’s being done as an afterthought.
“Who is going to visit Britain if it means a fortnight isolating? Who is going to make a business trip abroad?”
He added: “A country with infection and fatality statistics comparable with the worst in the world wants to limit access from places which have the virus largely under control.”
Travel companies are looking for loopholes while airlines warned of more job losses
Returning holidaymakers could avoid quarantine by arriving via Dublin, for example.
Heathrow boss John Holland-Kaye said it would make a health pandemic “an unemployment pandemic”.
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