Shadow Minister for International Trade, Gareth Thomas MP, is calling for temperature testing at all major Ports and Airports across the UK. A move which he argues will help contain Covid-19 and protect Britain’s key trading routes.
The Labour & Coop MP for Harrow West said, “It beggars’ belief that Ministers are not insisting on testing at airports and other ports such a move should be part of the national effort to reduce the spread of this terrible pandemic.
Places where the pandemic has successfully been contained such as Hong Kong have, for weeks, required everyone passing through their ports and airports to be tested and if necessary, to then isolate themselves.
Such a move would also help to protect staff and other passengers and crucially help to maintain confidence in Britain’s key trading routes.”
Hong Kong is known to have implemented some of the most stringent checks at their airports and ports to combat Covid-19 leading to the City reporting yesterday no new cases for the first time in nearly seven weeks.
The Government’s stance is that screening the 15,000 travellers who are currently landing in Britain each day would be futile with Health Secretary Matt Hancock last week stating… “‘We don’t test at airports because the number of people coming through has dropped dramatically”.
However, with testing rapidly becoming the norm at Airports and Ports across Europe, and the globe, the UK’s current position is likely to be increasingly questioned in the face of more robust testing regimes across the world.
