110 direct flights from India have landed in UK since it was put on ‘red list’: Up to 8,000 arrive from Covid-ravaged sub-continent in nearly a month amid fears airports have become ‘super spreaders’ for virus
- More than 100 direct flights from India have landed in the UK since country was placed on the banned list
- Though UK has banned direct flights from 11 other red list nations, it did not adopt a similar policy with India
- Government’s traffic light policy for holidays descended into farce as ministers sowed ‘mass confusion’
- Air passengers arriving at Heathrow faced huge queues as calls grew to separate red list arrivals from others
More than 100 direct flights from India have landed in the UK since the covid-ravaged Asian country was placed on the Government’s banned list of countries last month, it has emerged.
This means that up to 8,000 travellers have flown in from the subcontinent despite concern over an Indian covid variant that threatens to undermine the easing of the national lockdown.
Flights from India have continued to land in Britain at a rate of 4.5 per day in the three and a half weeks since the Asian country was added to the UK’s red list of destinations, according to an analysis of flight data by LBC.
Though the UK has banned direct flights from 11 other red list nations including Brazil and South Africa, it did not adopt a similar policy when India was placed on the list. Direct flights into the UK are also allowed from neighbouring Pakistan and Bangladesh, both red list countries.
Air passengers arriving at Heathrow yesterday faced queues of up to three hours as calls mounted to ensure arrivals from red list countries were separated from those coming in from other nations.
All arrivals are currently going into the same queues at the border, which has raised concerns over social distancing and people from amber or green list countries coming into contact with those from red list nations.
In another blow to the Government, its traffic light policy for foreign holidays descended into farce yesterday as ministers were accused of sowing ‘mass confusion’ after Environment Secretary George Eustice first suggested trips to amber countries to see friends and family were acceptable.
Just hours later, he was overruled by Boris Johnson by insisting such travel was off limits – and was followed by health minister Lord Bethell claiming holidays anywhere abroad were ‘dangerous’ with foreign trips ‘not for this year’. The peer even failed to rebuff the idea that returning holidaymakers should be electronically tagged in quarantine – comments branded ‘idiotic’ by senior Tories.
Welsh Secretary Simon Hart further heightened the confusion last night by saying ‘some people might think a holiday is essential’ and they should use their ‘common sense’.
The contradictory messages left beleaguered travel chiefs begging for clarity, with hundreds of flights to amber countries having already left the UK and demand for foreign breaks shooting through the roof.
On Monday the outright ban on foreign travel was replaced by a green, amber and red traffic light system grading different countries by their covid risk level. But amid concern over foreign variants, ministers then announced that no one should holiday in an amber country even if they quarantined on their return.
To add to the uncertainty, the EU is expected to announce today that its member states will welcome fully-vaccinated Britons this summer without the need for virus tests or quarantine.
Downing Street has insisted that it is down to airports to make sure border queues happen in a covid-secure way, and that the Government is ‘doing everything possible to make this process as efficient as possible’.
But Labour MP Yvette Cooper, chairwoman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, raised the alarm after warning that queues and delays could be a ‘super spreading risk’ if safety measures are not put in place.
In the latest twist and turn of the coronavirus crisis:
- Spanish and Greek tourism chiefs called for their island regions to be treated separately to the mainland;
- The Army will seek to discipline soldiers who refuse to have a coronavirus jab;
- Virus deaths hit their lowest level in more than eight months, with twice as many people now dying from flu;
- The figures raised hopes that Mr Johnson could soon declare that lockdown curbs will end in June;
- However the number of areas detecting the Indian variant has surged 44 per cent in a week;
- Job vacancies hit their highest level since the start of the pandemic;
- Dominic Cummings launched a fresh attack on the Government’s handling of the pandemic;
- A nurse singled out by Mr Johnson for saving his life from covid has quit over the Government’s ‘lack of respect’ for the profession.
A passenger arriving from ‘red list’ India (left) and another arriving from New York in ‘amber list’ US (right) arrive at the same time at London Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 2 yesterday
Three children walk in front of a woman at the arrivals hall at London Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 2
Passengers arrive at London Heathrow Terminal 2 yesterday, one day after the new travel ‘traffic light’ system came into force
Passengers wait to board a coach to a quarantine hotel outside Terminal 2 at Heathrow Airport
Heathrow Terminals 2 and 5 are open (in green) but 3 and 4 (in red) have been mothballed since last year to save money
March 16, 2020: PM’s call to stay at home
Boris Johnson declares: ‘Now is the time for everyone to stop non-essential contact with others and to stop all unnecessary travel’
Mar 17: Non-essential international travel BANned for 30 days
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab says advice reflects ‘pace at which other countries are either closing borders or implementing restrictive measures’
May 22: Quarantine after arriving in uk
Those coming to Britain are ordered to self-isolate for 14 days, starting from June 8. Anyone who flouts the rules faces a fine of up to £1,000
Apr 4: Non-essential travel ban extended INDEFINITELY
Jun 27: The dawn of travel corridors
The chance of quarantine-free travel is announced, beginning from July 10. The news prompts an explosion in summer holiday bookings
Jul 3: Quarantine-free destinations unveiled
Travel corridors established with some 75 countries, including Spain and France
Jul 25: Spain travel corridor closed
Quarantine brought back for travellers from Spain after it sees a spike in covid cases
Aug 13: France and netherlands travel corridors closed
Sep 4: Airport covid tests ruled out by pm
Mr Johnson said screening passengers would give a ‘false sense of security’ and only catch 7 per cent of cases.
Nov 5: Non-essential travel banned (again)
Second national lockdown begins. Britons are once again banned from going on holiday.
Dec 2: Travel resumes (except for tier 4)
New tier system introduced in UK. Travel resumes for most – but those in Tier 4 need a ‘legally permitted reason to leave home’.
Jan 6, 2021: Third ban on non-essential travel
Third lockdown begins
Jan 15: Get tested before coming to uk
Those coming to Britain are required to take a PCR test before reaching the UK. They must then self-isolate for ten days to combat the spread of new covid variants
Feb 15: Enforced hotel quarantine for some
Travellers from countries on the Government’s list of banned countries now face ten days of quarantine in approved hotels, at a cost of £1,750
May 17: Holiday ban lifted – and traffic light system begins
Those flying in from ‘red’ countries still face hotel quarantine – but Britons are now legally free to travel to nations on the ‘amber’ and ‘green’ lists.
Trips to the 12 green destinations, such as Portugal, are quarantine-free, but going to an amber country means you must self-isolate afterwards.
May 17 (yes, the same day): PM warns against holidays to amber countries
Downing Street spokesman says Britons should only take breaks in ‘green’ nations – prompting fury from travel industry (and exasperated holidaymakers, too)
The mayhem began yesterday morning when Mr Eustice said there might be ‘reasons’ for going abroad, such as visiting family and friends – and people could travel as long as they observed quarantine rules on their return.
Asked why, despite the travel advice, more than 150 aircraft left the UK yesterday for amber countries, he told Today on BBC Radio 4: ‘We don’t want to stop travel altogether and the reason… that we have the amber list is there will be reasons why people feel they need to travel either to visit family or indeed to visit friends.’
Within hours, he appeared to have been overruled by the Prime Minister, who insisted amber countries were off limits for holidays.
‘It’s very important for people to grasp what an amber-list country is: it is not somewhere where you should be going on holiday,’ Mr Johnson said.
‘And if people do go to an amber list country – they absolutely have to for some pressing family or urgent business reason.
‘You will have to self-isolate, you’ll have to take tests and do your passenger locator form and all the rest of it, but you also have to self-isolate for ten days when you get back. And that period of self-isolation, that period of quarantine, will be enforced with fines of up to £10,000, so I think it’s important for you to understand what an amber-list country is.’
Then in the most forthright statement so far Lord Bethell told fellow peers: ‘Travelling is dangerous. That is not news to us or to the people who get on those planes in the first place. Please stay in this country.’
When Baroness Watkins of Tavistock called for consideration of the use of electronic quarantine tagging – as has been used in South Korea – the health minister said he was grateful for the suggestion.
Labour’s Yvette Cooper, chairman of the Commons home affairs committee, said the fiasco showed ministers ‘haven’t got a proper grip’.
Speaking to the World At One programme on BBC Radio 4 yesterday, Ms Cooper said Border Force had ‘a long time to prepare’ for the reopening of foreign travel.
She said: ‘It’s irresponsible, frankly, not to sort this out because if you have people waiting for long periods of time in a not brilliantly ventilated arrivals hall, often standing very close to each other, well that’s a super spreading risk if you continue to do that and don’t have the proper systems in place, especially if you have people arriving from red list countries alongside people arriving from green list countries.
‘So they’ve got to make sure they have proper systems in place, that they have enough Border Force staff in place, that they have enough electronic systems in place, and if they don’t have those things in place at a time when we’re all desperately trying to keep the progress moving forwards, there’s a real risk that we’ll end up just going backwards again.
‘And this is against a long history of errors and mistakes in the policies at the border, those public health border policies, that have in previous waves made the pandemic significantly worse.’
Layla Moran MP, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on coronavirus, added: ‘We cannot allow farcical scenes to continue in which those arriving from red list countries are mixing with others in overcrowded arrival halls, potentially allowing dangerous variants to spread.
‘The government must rethink its flawed approach and discourage overseas holidays while providing proper financial support to the travel industry.’
Huw Merriman, chairman of the Commons transport committee, said: ‘I’m afraid it’s a case of confusion reigns. What’s the point in bringing in a traffic light mechanism, labelling amber countries as ‘moderate risk’ and then, by implication, shading them red by telling passengers they shouldn’t go?’
Another senior Tory called Lord Bethell’s comments ‘idiotic’, adding: ‘If the Government is saying all travel is dangerous, then why has it just introduced a green list? The confusion around the amber list is bad enough without adding to it.’
EasyJet chief Johan Lundgren said: ‘Having set up a framework for international travel the Government seems to be single-handedly dismantling it and causing mass confusion with mixed messages and complex testing requirements.
‘Let’s face it – in this version of a traffic light system – green doesn’t mean green with all its testing restrictions and now amber, according to some ministers, actually means red. No wonder the British public is confused.
‘And in the meantime Europe moves forward with sensible travel frameworks which enable people to safely travel again while the UK tries to close down travel to all but a couple of countries.’
Tim Alderslade of the trade body Airlines UK said: ‘The messaging around amber is a total mess. It’s ridiculous for ministers to now come out and needlessly cause confusion by advising against travel.’
Passengers push their luggage as they walk through the arrivals hall at London Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 2
A woman pushes luggage through the arrivals hall at Heathrow Terminal 2 yesterday as people arrive in Britain from abroad
Spanish and Greek tourism bosses want their islands on the UK’s green list
Spanish and Greek tourism chiefs yesterday urged the UK to move their islands on to the green list for travel.
Fourteen-day infection rates in the Balearics have dropped below 50 cases per 100,000, the second lowest level among Spain’s 17 regions. Majorca has an infection rate of 42.74 per 100,000, Ibiza 25.69 and Formentera 16.51. Menorca’s is 76.02.
However the islands are lumped in with ‘amber’ mainland Spain where rates are higher. Portugal, which is on the green list, has a rate of around 49 per 100,000, according to the data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
Iago Negueruela, tourism minister for the Balearic Islands, urged UK ministers to ‘regionalise’ its green list to reopen quarantine-free holidays.
‘The Spanish government shares our strategy that the islands are considered separately,’ he said.
‘We’re asking for it because we’ve maintained controls at ports and airports for our national travellers. The UK can have the tranquillity that we are controlling the access of those travellers when they enter the Balearic Islands.
‘That means for instance that someone coming from Andalusia would need to show a negative PCR test to come to Majorca.
‘With such a low accumulated incidence of coronavirus, the fact we’ve retained control over ports and airports, and our ability to detect and control new strains, the security is much higher than many of the countries that have received a green light rating.’
Ministers have pledged to review the travel green list every three weeks and have not ruled out treating islands separately.
Officials in Greece say infection rates on their islands have been falling while vaccination rates have ramped up. On Kos, Crete and Mykonos more than a third of inhabitants have received at least one dose.
Vicky Loizou, the Greek government’s tourism chief, said she believed UK ministers ‘will change their decision’ not to treat the islands separately. She said British tourists were important to her country.
Yesterday, one source at Heathrow watched passengers who walked into the Terminal 2 arrivals hall at the same time after landing on flights from New York and India, having spent three hours queuing for border checks.
They said: ‘When the India flights come out, they have a man or a woman in a high vis jacket leading them, and normally they’ll bring about half a dozen people through and they get escorted, at the front and at the back.
‘They then get taken to a separate lift which goes to the basement of Heathrow and then they mix with the public again as they get onto a coach to take them to the quarantine hotel.
‘As that happens, people who were on the New York flights are rushing past the people from the India flights. so you’re less than a metre away from people who are going to be quarantined. It just makes no sense whatsoever.’
One passenger stuck in a queue in Terminal 2 on Monday told MailOnline: ‘I arrived back in the country from South Africa – one of the Red Listed countries. I was more terrified catching covid while going through border control than walking around South Africa.
‘While queuing there was no social distancing we had a plane from India arrive straight after ours and we queued for over three hours and when their plane arrived it was out the door.’
Heathrow sources said consideration was being given to opening another terminal but that it was currently ‘economically not viable’. Opening another terminal would cost millions of pounds and airport officials have told the Government that ministers would need to help foot the bill.
Terminals 2 and 5 are open but 3 and 4 have been mothballed since last year in a bid to save money due to the economic hit inflicted by the pandemic.
Re-opening another terminal will only become economically viable when more countries are added to the travel ‘green list’, meaning passenger numbers will likely increase along with revenues generated within the terminal, or if ministers stump up more financial support.
Border sources have predicted far longer waits to get back into Britain later this month – particularly when those who began holidays yesterday begin to return.
‘The flight numbers aren’t ramping up yet but when they do it will be unworkable at the border,’ one insider told the Daily Mail. ‘We are struggling as it is.
‘There’s been a significant increase in the amount of work that has to be done for each passenger at the border – and that takes time for every single arrive, UK national or not. I fear we will be unable to cope.’
Border checks currently involve multiple stages in addition to the usual eligibility and anti-terror screenings that are carried out by immigration officers.
Covid rules mean officers must determine whether a passenger has arrived from a green, amber or red list country, examine their ‘passenger locator form’, and that they have a valid negative test certificate, as well as bookings for tests on the 2nd and 8th days after arriving.
Arrivals from red list countries must also show proof of their mandatory hotel quarantine bookings.
Steve Myall, who returned with his wife and young family from New York to Heathrow yesterday, said: ‘The border arrivals hall had people from flights from all over the place with no social distancing – red list people next to amber list.
‘Bearing in mind kids can’t get vaccinated you would have thought they would move families through quicker.
Air passengers arrive at London Heathrow as they wear face masks while walking through the arrivals hall
Passengers walk through the arrivals hall at London Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 2 yesterday
End amber list travel advice shambles: Tourism chiefs’ plea as foreign holiday ban is lifted
Tourism and airline chiefs have been left exasperated after the Government’s mixed messaging on holidays overshadowed the resumption of foreign travel.
Just as the ban on non-essential travel was lifted, Downing Street doubled down and insisted people should only be holidaying in the 12 countries on the ‘green list’.
They should not be travelling to the dozens of popular destinations on the ‘amber list’ unless it is essential, a spokesman said.
But yesterday, around 120 flights left Heathrow alone to amber list countries – compared with just 19 to green, quarantine-free destinations. At Gatwick it was 31 and six respectively.
Huw Merriman, Tory chairman of the transport committee, confronted Health Secretary Matt Hancock in the Commons last night and accused him of ‘effectively turning the amber list into red’.
He added: ‘Can I ask him what the point is of me having my passport any more? This covid will always mutate, the vaccine will always have to keep up, we’ve managed to vaccinate 99 per cent of the mortality risk. When will this Government actually take a little bit of risk and allow people to get on with their lives again?’
Mr Hancock replied: ‘He should get his passport out, he can get on a plane to Portugal or one of the other [green list] countries.’
He also faced calls for ‘clarity’ in the Commons from predecessor Jeremy Hunt, who said: ‘Should my constituents go on holiday to countries on that amber list even when it is no longer illegal?’
Mr Hancock replied: ‘The answer is no. People should not travel to amber or red list countries or territories… unless you have an exceptional reason.’
Last night, the bosses of British Airways, easyJet and Heathrow were among those to call for greater clarity from ministers. They also demanded that the quarantine-free travel ‘green list’ should be expanded to stem the losses that threaten the industry’s future.
‘I don’t see why it’s such chaos. If variants are the concern then throw money at the border or maybe a plan to make it hellish to put people off travel.’
He added: ‘I suspect it’s going to be chaos once the airport is taking UK nationals back when they’ve been away.’
Heathrow Airport chief John Holland-Kaye insisted things had got better at the border since queues of up to seven hours last month. He said queues were now often much shorter partly due to guard numbers being boosted.
‘When I was in immigration the other day, there were no queues, we had enough desks opened and half of the e-gates in Terminal 5 were open,’ he said.
‘What I heard from the head of Border Force [Paul Lincoln] is that now that upgrade has happened all would be open unless they were taken out for upgrades.
‘So effectively most passengers who previously used e-gates will be able to use e-gates again.’ He added: ‘We have raised our concerns about what we’ve seen at the border over the last few months where there have been far longer queues than are necessary.
‘However, by raising it as a public issue we have seen the Home Office and Border Force respond, they’ve accelerated the automation process [by opening up e-gates] which we have been calling for.
‘They put more officers on the desks and started to change their processes, and that is converting into shorter queues at the border.
‘I’m glad to see that Border Force seems to be stepping up.’ Asked if measures at the border were ‘fit for purpose’ yet, British Airways chief Sean Doyle said he was ‘encouraged’ by some of the progress made.
But he added: ‘I think it needs to improve as we get into the summer. And I think there needs to be a commitment from all parties to make it improve. That’s going to be very important.
‘We have a lot of work to do. But we’re progressing along the right direction which is to use automation, which is to reopen the e-gates and to work as both airlines, airports and with Border Force together to get this up and running.’
Meanwhile, Environment Secretary George Eustice defended the timing of the Government’s decision to effectively ban travel from India by adding it to the red list from April 23.
In response to suggestions the decision was taken too late, Environment Secretary Mr Eustice told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: ‘What we did is put India on the red list a full six days before that variant was even under investigation and a full two weeks before it was declared a variant of concern.
‘We did put India on the list as soon as we saw an uptick in prevalence and well before the Indian variant was declared a variant of concern.’
And Mr Johnson has said India was placed on the red list of travel restrictions before the coronavirus variant first identified in the country was of concern.
The Prime Minister said: ‘If you look at what happened with the variant we are talking about, the so-called Indian variant, the B1617.2, India was put on the red list before this was even a variant under investigation, let alone a variant of concern.
‘So we took prompt action and we will continue to take very, very draconian action in respect of all variants coming from wherever around the world.’
A Home Office spokesperson said: ‘Protecting public health is our priority and as we reopen international travel safely we will maintain 100 per cent health checks at the border to protect the wider public and our vaccine rollout.
‘While we do this, wait times are likely to be longer and we will do all we can to smooth the process, including the roll-out of our e-Gate upgrade programme during the summer and deploying additional Border Force officers.
‘Arrangements for queues and the management of returning passengers are the responsibility of the relevant airport, which we expect to be done in a covid-secure way.’
Border staff say airlines should send staff to help reduce immigration queues after travellers faced three-hour waits to enter the UK with red-list passengers unsegregated from the rest
Border Force staff have said airlines should send employees to help reduce immigration queues after travellers faced three-hour waits to enter the UK – with red-list passengers unsegregated from others in the line.
Airport and airline staff should be deployed to ensure passengers have booked the necessary Covid tests and filled in their locator forms correctly prior to reaching Border Force personnel, a union boss has claimed.
The Immigration Services Union’s Lucy Moreton – who represents border workers – said checks at the end of the line are currently being carried out by qualified Border Force staff.
Their training could be better used to check documents at the front to speed up the queue, she added – warning the current waits will only get worse from next week when holidaying Britons return home.
Delays were yesterday blamed on not enough Border Force staff present to carry out the locator form checks – as arrivals claimed more than two thirds of Border Force desks were unstaffed.
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