The Daily Mail has become the latest national newspaper to call on the government to introduce airport testing for Covid-19 to reduce quarantine restrictions.
The tabloid’s front page on Friday carried a story urging prime minister Boris Johnson to ‘Get Britain flying again’.
It’s reported business leaders warning that the UK economy will “nosedive” unless borders introduce Covid-19 testing and noted that 30 other countries were accepting testing at ports and airports to either end or reduce the length of time travellers must quarantine for.
The paper’s front page on the issue of testing follows a campaign, Test4Travel, launched by the Telegraph earlier this week.
Friday’s @DailyMailUK#MailFrontPagespic.twitter.com/XrmfzziGDj
— Daily Mail U.K. (@DailyMailUK) September 3, 2020
It’s calls were backed by Airlines UK, the Airport Operators Association, Virgin Atlantic, EasyJet, Airbus and Rolls-Royce are all backing the campaign. Gatwick, Manchester, Stansted, Southend, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Southampton airports also pledged their support.
Former prime minister Tony Blair said testing at airports was essential to reopening the economy. He told the Mail: “Testing after travel will reduce quarantine and eventually replace it altogether.
“By maximising all the testing capacity at our disposal and continuing to bring online new, innovative on-the-spot tests, we can do this now. It will be essential to getting international travel back and revitalising the economy.”
The paper also quoted Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye, who warned that Britain will “fall behind” other countries if it doesn’t try to open its borders.
Writing a column for the Mail, Holland-Kaye said: “Naturally, we all understand that when you are in the middle of a pandemic you need to be very cautious about importing disease from overseas. That is why we supported the blanket quarantine during lockdown, where passengers had to self-isolate for 14 days upon arrival into Britain.
“And we supported the government’s pragmatic approach to reopening borders by later allowing free travel from ‘low-risk’ countries. Most of these were short-haul European markets, which opened just in time for the summer holidays. But our long-haul markets, such as the United States, which are so critical for the success of Global Britain, remain closed.
“The problem with a blanket quarantine is that it assumes that everyone is carrying Covid-19 – which is just not true. Over 99 per cent of the world’s population has never even had the disease.
“A much better alternative is to test people to make sure that only people without coronavirus are allowed in. At Heathrow, we have already set up a testing facility to administer Public Health England’s preferred PCR (polymerise chain reaction) swab tests for arriving passengers.
“They are currently sitting idle, as the government has not given permission for passengers to exit quarantine early if they can prove they don’t have the coronavirus.
“I have even been part of a trial of a 20-second Covid-19 test developed by a British company, which is quicker, cheaper and more accurate than the PCR test.
“Germany, France and around 30 other countries are moving to testing as an alternative to quarantine. This is starting to get their economies moving again and, in fact, both Frankfurt and Charles de Gaulle airports carried more passengers over the last few months than Heathrow. The first time that has ever happened.
“And this is what will happen if the Government doesn’t get a grip and reopen our borders safely.”
