Border restrictions here for foreseeable future, SAGE member tells LBC

24 January 2021, 12:20 | Updated: 24 January 2021, 12:23

Border restrictions are in place 'for the foreseeable'

By Joe Cook

A member of the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies has told LBC’s Swarbrick on Sunday he believes border restrictions “make complete sense” and will be here for the foreseeable future.

Professor Kamlesh Khunti told Tom Swarbrick he believes the plans for stricter border controls “seems to be positive”, adding “I think that makes complete sense”.

The comments from the SAGE member come as the government reportedly plans to introduce a compulsory 10-day hotel quarantine for all travellers entering the UK.

Ministers are expected to discuss the plans on Monday, which could also apply to British travellers, whose hotel stays, guarded by security, will have to be paid from their own pocket.

The measures are being prompted by concerns over new variants of Covid-19 entering from abroad.

Read more: Hotel quarantine plan to be discussed by ministers - but how would it work?

Read more: Countries consider tougher restrictions on UK due to new Covid-19 variant

Collaboration will alleviate vaccine hesitancy, SAGE member suggests

Professor Khunti told LBC new variants have been found in Japan, Brazil, South Africa and the UK, but these are “only countries that are sequencing the virus”, warning “we probably don’t know about new variants that are appearing in other countries” due to a lack of genome sequencing capabilities.

Once the numbers of Covid cases are down “the chances of a new variant replicating are much, much lower”, however, the risk of new variants is likely to mean restrictions on international travel will be here for the foreseeable future, the SAGE member added.

This could spell disaster for the UK’s travel industry, which has already been hit hard by the pandemic.

However, the government is under pressure from scientists and Labour to introduce stronger border restrictions.

Read more: Health Secretary 'hopes' schools will reopen by Easter

Read more: Police issue over £15,000 fines during Covid-19 raid on rave in east London

Stricter border measures will slow spread of Covid-19 varients

Shadow Home Secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds, told Swarbrick on Sunday: “The government has been too slow throughout, they need to get a plan in place as soon as possible.”

“The initial quarantining system the government introduced, the formal system, wasn’t until June last year. The UK was a total international outlier,” he added.

“In May last year it was only the UK, Iran, Luxembourg and the US Virgin Islands without travel restrictions.”

“They need, in my view, to move to a system of hotel quarantining and they need a comprehensive plan for the border to stop the chaotic scenes - we have seen these awful chaotic scenes at Heathrow Airport over the weekend.”

Read more: Police advise against travel and snowball fights as snow falls across UK

Read more: Former health secretary Lord Lansley tells LBC he thinks lockdown will last until May

Shadow Home Sec. calls for 'comprehensive plan' at borders

On Saturday, Heathrow bosses were forced to defend their social distancing measures after pictures shared on social media showed hundreds of passengers queuing in close proximity at the border.

Heathrow has said that with social distancing in place, a queue for just one aircraft would stretch to over 1km in length.

Read more: UK records 1,348 more Covid deaths as warnings emerge new variant is deadlier

Passengers at Heathrow have complained of long waits at border control with little social distancting.
Passengers at Heathrow have complained of long waits at border control with little social distancting. Picture: Pia Josephson

Amidst complaints that queues were building at the border due to a lack of border officials, Emma Moore, Chief Operating Officer at Border Force, said: “We are in a global health pandemic which is why every traveller is subject to enhanced monitoring at UK airports in line with the public health measures at the border.

“Every essential check from pre-departure testing, to the Passenger Locator Form and the suspension of travel routes is to strengthen our borders and prevent the spread of coronavirus into the UK.

“People should not be travelling unless necessary. Every airport across the UK has a responsibility to comply with social distancing and Covid compliant measures on site.”

More Latest News

See more More Latest News

Lisa Smith, 43, was with a female friend when she was killed outside the Three Horseshoes pub in Knockholt, Kent

Man suspected of fatally shooting wife outside pub on Valentine's Day rang friend and said 'she's dead'

Carry On legend Julian Holloway dies aged 80

Carry On legend Julian Holloway dies aged 80 after 'brief illness' as tributes pour in

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned 'any appearance by armed forces under some other flag' in Ukraine would be 'completely unacceptable', in a dig at a peace plan floated by Keir Starmer.

Keir Starmer’s Ukraine peacekeeping plan ‘completely unacceptable’, Russia tells US in Saudi Arabia talks

Rita Lambourne, 58, was “fatally wounded” at her home in Bayencourt South, Bexhill

Man charged with axe murder of woman in own home

Lydia Mugambe is accused of taking 'advantage of her status'

UN judge ‘trafficked woman to UK to be her slave'

Anonymous posters have appeared in Hampstead Heath, a park in north London, calling for gay men to stop using the park for sex.

'Take back Hampstead Heath', dog walkers urged as posters appear calling for men to stop using park for sex

Gavin Nicholls was tackled to the ground by a plain-clothed officer outside the Co-op in Barnet

Moment serial shoplifter is tackled off e-scooter by police as he flees store in north London

The plane, which was carrying 80 people, slid down onto the icy runway at Toronto Pearson International Airport before bursting into flames

Horrifying video shows moment Delta plane crashes on tarmac and bursts into flames at Toronto airport

Healey's comments came following Russia-US Peake talks in Saudi Arabia.

UK facing 'new era of threat' from Russia, Defence Secretary says as he unveils ‘biggest military shake up in 50 years’

Passengers escape Flipped over Delta plane after it crashed while landing in Toronto

'We were hanging upside down like bats': Survivors reveal fear and chaos inside flipped over Delta plane

England's top judge slams Starmer and Badenoch over Gaza family immigration comments

'Judges aren't free from criticism': Backlash after England's top judge attacks Starmer's migrant remarks

Craig and Lindsay Foreman

British couple on round-the-world motorbike adventure charged with espionage by Iranian authorities

An assistant referee has been charged with child sexual offences.

Assistant referee for FA Cup and football league games charged with child sexual offence

Corinna Schumacher, right, has broken her silence on the case involving a plot to reveal Formula One star Michael Schumacher's health secrets.

Michael Schumacher's wife breaks silence after three men guilty of blackmail plot to reveal F1 legend's health secrets

Doctor Who

Doctor Who faces axe as Nucti Gatwa 'quits' show amid drop in ratings over 'woke' storylines

Pope Francis

Pope Francis cancels weekend engagements as hospital stay extended