NOT A MERRY CHRISTMAS?

Travel and hospitality industries in chaos as cancellations continue

Rupanjana Dutta Wednesday 01st December 2021 07:21 EST
 
 

Excitement over the festive season and holidays, with families looking forward to seeing each other- some after a gap of two years, is now marred with a fear of yet another lockdown, as Britain tightens rules over rapid spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19. As scientists try to grapple with the effectiveness of the current vaccines against the new threat, Serum Institute of India Chief Adar Poonawalla said, that a version of Covishield (AstraZeneca), tailor-made to combat the new variant can be considered, if research indicates a need.

 A call will be taken after two weeks once more is known about this variant. In the meantime, as we went to press, UK FTSEdropped over 1% as Moderna chief predicts existing Covid vaccines will struggle with Omicron.

Health professionals across the UK, who handled unsurmountable pressure last winter are worried if they would yet again face the consequences of existing discriminations that ripped through the nation earlier this year.

Those planning to travel around Christmas to see family or celebrate other occasions, are now worried about closing borders, increasing cost of PCR tests and the return of strict quarantine rules including expensive hotel quarantines in the UK.Many restaurants have seen quick cancellations, as the announcements of restrictions came.

India has implemented new quarantine rules, asking passengers from high-risk countries, including the UK, to submit 14-day travel history, to test on arrival and home quarantine for 7 days if they test negative.

 “Omicron may cancel my wedding”

NRI weddings in India during winter, as the weather cools down, is very common. Diaspora often chooses India as a destination for their weddings, as many families enjoy the celebrations with much fervour at bigger venues but at half the cost. After various restrictions for the last two years, people were looking forward to the Indian wedding season this winter.

Amit Ghose is a young working professional from Birmingham, soon to be a groom, who was looking forward to his wedding but now worried if it would go ahead with the new variant infecting people and stalling travels.

Amit, who suffers from a condition called neurofibromatosis which effects one side of his face was never sure if he would find love. Butlast year he met a woman from Assam, in eastern India, through a family friend, whom he wanted to marry. Speaking to Asian Voice, Amit said, “Having found love we had to fight with the family as my appearance wasn't well received by her family. Finally winning them over I was excited about going to India for my wedding which is scheduled for 17 December. 

“First issue we faced was obtaining a visa for mum as the Government of India has stopped issuing e-visas for UK residents. I emailed several people at the High Commission of India, before getting an appointment in the London office. Living in Birmingham we had to make a trip there. Thankfully we were granted a visa for one month. 

“I had pre-booked my mum’s ticket as I thought we get minimum of 60 days. Then came the nightmare of having to change the ticket date, given the time of the year nothing was available. In fact, at one point Ithought mum would have to miss my wedding!Finally, we got a date, and we are now scheduled to fly to India for 12 days.”

However then came Omicron, which Amit fears may result into India banning flights. “After all that trouble, I thought things are finally falling into place, but no!My initial fear is what if India bans flights and I am unable to make the wedding, given the family is already against the wedding this will just give them an excuse to cancel the wedding.

“Now I am just fearful of what will happen as things are changing every day, if I don’t make it to Silchar, Assam in time. Will we still get married?”

Zoom parties are back while hospitality industry expect the worst

Viva AndradaO’Flynnan entrepreneur from Gloucestershire, founder of the Love Viva Cakes and Crafts and host of World Humanitarian Drive’s Inspiring Millions Showwas thinking of flying to Philippines for the holidays.But instead, she is now organising an online Christmas party with her family. Speaking to Asian Voice, she said, “I was just planning to buy the tickets to fly to Philippines. I looked for tickets and they were already costly. The flight is also longer as there is no direct flight. I think traveling is a lot more inconvenient in these Covid times with all the restrictions, PCR tests, new variants which are also said to be vaccine resistant.As much as I miss my family, these are still Covid times. It’s better to keep everyone safe and celebrate online. This Christmas we will celebrate online via zoom.”

Robbany Khan, owner of Rajdani Restaurant, Kent told us, "The actual restrictions - mandatory wearing of masks on public transport and retail outlets - don't directly affect hospitality venues.But the message it sends out may be catastrophic, in that more customers will be nervous about leaving homes.Those businesses who had hoped to partly make up for the loss of trade with Christmas party bookings are being hit badly, with cancellations.”

Many restaurants have faced over 20 cancellations on the weekend and are worried for the upcoming bookings. Anticipating the possible changes in hospitality rules affecting his restaurant,Robby added,“We are well prepared like we always have been. Over Covid period we did a full refurbishment. Flooring, Tables and invested in screens to create safely barriers between tables. Business will be affected for large groups. However, we will send out a message to our regulars about the fact that we will put in extra measures in place to ensure our staff and our customers feel safe."

Health professionals fret as cases rise

While JCVI is trying to operationalise the booster dose for anyone above 18-year-old by end of January, halving the gap between second and third dose, to three months, health professionals are yet again on high-alert, as cases go up in the country and are under significant pressure to deliver an all-round health care. At the Tuesday press conference, though the Prime Minister and Health Secretary assured the restrictions in place are currently enough, a scientific adviser reportedly told the media in the morning, to reduce interactions between people and households to save lives.

Recently, 45-year-old Dr Irfan Halim, died of Covid just days away from his boosters coming in. The hard-working doctor had spent months away from family when he died. His wife Saila Halim said that he was eager to get his third dose, but tragically caught the killer virus on September 10, fighting the virus for nine months before tragically dying.

Last winter allegations were made that institutional racism led to deaths of many BAME health professionals, though findings in Sewell’s report in July 2021 ignored the existence of ‘well-documented’ historic discriminatory processes within NHS, which was then heavily challenged.

Despite the initial resistance to admit the depth of the existing problem and celebrating NHS as a “success story” due to its existing diverse workforce, an independent investigation by NHS Race and Health Observatory established the link between race and health. Deaths among medics during the pandemic and the general approach towards immigrants in NHS workforce have been alarming- and it was made worse by a report by Care Quality Commission recently on how Bristol hospital line managers told the ethnic minority hospital staff to use ‘easier to pronounce’ Western ‘work’ names.

Prof Partha Kar OBE, renowned for his work in the field of diabetes and the National Advisor for Medical Workforce based on Racial Equality told Asian Voice, “I think it’s fair to say its worried all- and quick measures are the order of the day- yet while also trying to balance economy – all while we wait to hear more news about how this variant behaves. Change in mask rules and amendment of vaccine strategy is certainly a quick and positive step forward- though many would argue schools need to be looked at closer or more consistency around mask rules.

“There certainly is a greater focus- and it’s difficult to avoid this topic of ‘institutional racism’ in a conversation. Plenty are engaged or in posts which now directly looks at tackling inequalities within staff or wider. That hopefully will translate into actions and less inequity going forwards. There are many lessons to learn- the question is how many are willing to accept them and adapt behaviour, policies accordingly. Time will tell.”

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, BMA council chair, told the newsweekly, “Given reports of confirmed cases of the Omicron variant in the UK, the reintroduction of mandatory mask wearing is sensible and the right thing to do. However, for this measure to be fully effective it is important that the Government extends this mandate to all public indoor and closed settings. This includes the hospitality industry – such as for staff in restaurants - where the public tend to spend long periods of time in close contact with others. This addition to Government measures will have minimal economic and social impact, but rather evidence tells us that it will help to further reduce the spread of the virus.

“We only have a small window of opportunity to get this right to ensure that we don’t lose control of this new variant, which has the potential to have a devastating impact on the health service. The Government must act now, or we risk seeing even more unnecessary deaths.”

Dr Ramesh Mehta OBE, President, BAPIO said, “The UK government at the beginning of the pandemic had not taken effective action leading to significant and avoidable deaths especially of ethnic minority NHS staff as well as the public. Fortunately, the demand for beds in recent months has not been overwhelming. We have to wait to know how dangerous this new virus is but having learnt from previous experience I believe the NHS is ready if challenged.

“However, institutional racism continues to be as prevalent as ever. There has been a lot of talk about the issue, but nothing has changed in real life.”

A political move?

A South African doctor who first spotted the variant said Omicron symptoms so far are extremely mild, and some patients have not exhibited any symptoms previously known or associated with Covid-19. While the WHO investigates, countries have already shut doors to South Africa, other African countries as well as UK travellers. UK has re-imposed the traffic light system and asking to test more. However, this move of closing of border to South Africa has been slammed as a “knee-jerk, draconian” reaction by South Africa’s Health Minister on Friday.


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