‘Chaotic’ quarantine regime ‘destroying’ economy, says Willie Walsh
The boss of British Airways’ parent company IAG has accused the government of destroying the economy through its “chaotic approach” to imposing coronavirus quarantine restrictions.
Writing in the Times, Willie Walsh said that the “ever-shifting list” of countries requiring travellers to self-isolate meant that the UK has “officially hung up the closed sign”.
Walsh’ comments came with restrictions widely expected to be reimposed on Portugal after a spike in cases in recent days.
Currently, figures show that over the past seven days it has had 21.1 cases per 100,000 people, above the 20 per 100,000 threshold the government is using to decide when to reimpose restrictions.
Walsh warned that adding Portugal to the “red list” would cause “further chaos and hardship for travellers”.
“The government is using arbitrary statistics to effectively ban 160 countries and in the process destroying the economy.”
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According to data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, over the past fortnight the UK has a lower rate of new infections than Portugal.
As of 31 August, the UK recorded 24 coronavirus cases per 100,000 people over the past 14 days while Portugal recorded 35.7.
Since the government implemented its travel corridors policy in July, 18 countries have had their quarantine-free status revoked, including key holiday destinations such as France and Spain.
Removing Portugal from the list would be another substantial blow to the UK’s travel industry.
More than 2m people travel to Portugal from this country every year.
Walsh also urged the government to switch to a regional testing regime to enable flights to begin between the UK and the US.
He said that instead of imposing blanket restrictions, officials should ensure all passengers on affected routes should be tested at the airport, and then again a few days later.
If they record two negative tests, passengers can then be released from quarantine restrictions.