Transport Secretary warns against foreign travel this summer
9 May 2020, 17:19 | Updated: 7 June 2023, 08:56
Ben Kentish quizzes Transport Secretary Grant Shapps
The Transport Secretary confirmed for LBC that it is unlikely that Brits will be advised to travel abroad this year.
LBC's Ben Kentish was at this afternoon's coronavirus press briefing and asked Grant Shapps to confirm that "foreign travel this summer is highly unlikely" due to the revelations that the UK is planning to quarantine people coming into the country for a fortnight.
"You can't travel around this country at the minute" Mr Shapps pointed out, suggesting that with this in place it is highly advised against travelling abroad if this is the case.
Mr Shapps told Ben that the "Foreign and Commonwealth Office is advising strongly not to travel" and this should be taken as the gospel at this moment in time. He added that it is "difficult to give blanket advice" during such a volatile situation, yet we "will have to see how coronavirus develops" before we can make a definitive decision.
Ben then turned to the Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam and pushed him with the question of "why has it been so difficult to protect people in care homes" during the coronavirus crisis.
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Professor Van-Tam insisted that coronavirus "continues to be a difficult situation in care homes" and medical professionals are working incessantly to try and work out how to fix the problem.
He pointed out to Ben that "we are dealing with a virus that is very infectious" and reminded him that the R number of coronavirus in the UK was once 3, whereas it is now below one.
Professor Van-Tam also said that we are "dealing with a very elderly population in care homes" and we already know that coronavirus is more lethal to the elderly population, making it more difficult to fight against the disease in care homes.
You can watch Ben Kentish speaking with the Transport Secretary above.
