SA variant

You can't stop it, planes are still arriving with business travellers, lorries have to come in and out with supplies. A test is only accurate (and not 100% at that) at the moment it is done, anyone can be infected minutes later.

I know lorry drivers don't get tested. But I thought anyone flying in had to have a PCR test?

Apparently, the cases are not easily linked to travel, so we still really don't know how it got here. We're right in the middle of this horrific pandemic, just hoping that our vaccinations will be effective against new variants. It's all very alarming.

The borders are nowhere near shut. There was a photo of one of the Heathrow terminals last weekend, jammed pack with people. Were all their trips essential? I very much doubt it. It is no earthly good vaccinating like mad and leaving the back door open to allow these variants to enter the country, especially as nobody seems too sure whether the current vaccines work on them.

I also read that that photograph was not a recent one.

I have been checking the Heathrow arrivals board to see if the flights from where I am are actually flying or getting cancelled. There are not many flights in at all, particularly considering it is Heathrow.

Obviously, it does only take one person to bring it in...

Just watching the news on the BBC about how worrying it is,an how quickly it must be identified ,and the spread stop.So what does the BBC do .Send a reporter to stand in the testng area in Woking to give us an update.How ridiculous and unnecessary.In the middle of a pandemic surely getting our news via the studio instead of reporters travelling around so much would be the logical thing to do.Yesterday they had them standing outside the hospital where Captain Tom is being treated.As if we don't know what the outside of a hospital looks like.

My niece lives near the channel ports. There are undocumented people coming into the country in Kent. Not everyone comes to the UK via a plane, train or ferry.

Eh SueDonim? How else do they come in?

Dinghies, inflatables etc.

Oh, you're referring to refugees. They get locked up in ex-MoD camps at the moment. Poor devils.

Where they are perfectly safe GagaJo whilst checks are made, hot meals provided and a doctor on call. Some of our own elderly residents don’t get that on a regular basis. If I was felling a war torn country, fearful for the life of myself and family I’d be darned grateful.

GagaJo

Oh, you're referring to refugees. They get locked up in ex-MoD camps at the moment. Poor devils.

❤️

Washerwoman

Just watching the news on the BBC about how worrying it is,an how quickly it must be identified ,and the spread stop.So what does the BBC do .Send a reporter to stand in the testng area in Woking to give us an update.How ridiculous and unnecessary.In the middle of a pandemic surely getting our news via the studio instead of reporters travelling around so much would be the logical thing to do.Yesterday they had them standing outside the hospital where Captain Tom is being treated.As if we don't know what the outside of a hospital looks like.

I remember the lovely Terry Wogan years ago ranting at the dumbing down of news reports. If there’s an item about bread, the reporter holds a loaf up - just in case we didn’t know what one was. We’re being brainwashed.

Urmstongran

Where they are perfectly safe GagaJo whilst checks are made, hot meals provided and a doctor on call. Some of our own elderly residents don’t get that on a regular basis. If I was felling a war torn country, fearful for the life of myself and family I’d be darned grateful.

That’s interesting. Have you been to one?? I wondered what they were like. Did you see inside??

There are two issues here, how these variants enter the country and how they manage to spread, neither of which are really under control. There is inadequate border protection and half the population are not properly following the rules. If they were it simply would not spread so rapidly. I realise we have 68 million people in a very small country, but that is all the more reason to play this game with absolute care and attention. This is not happening.

The MoD camps are described as being very run down. Some of them have had big covid outbreaks due to the cramped conditions.

Safe for those on the outside, maybe. Not so safe for the people inside. Depends if you regard refugees as a threat or not I guess. I'm very glad my asylum seeker friends aren't in one.

Asylum seekers or illegal immigrants?

They are all bound to claim to be the former aren’t they?

How many safe European countries did they all pass through on their way here?

I know this is not a thread about illegal immigrants but a proven way to stop the problem is to destroy the business model of the people smugglers.

If every migrant who arrived here via that route had their application automatically refused, word would soon get back that it was hopeless and the people smugglers would be put out of business.

Australia adopted this strict policy and it solved the problem.

Good point JE.

Using Australia as an example of how to deal with refugees and asylum seekers isn't a good idea.

www.unhcr.org/asylum-in-australia.html#:~:text=Asylum-seekers%20who%20arrive%20in%20Australia%20without%20a%20visa,

I prefer to try to think, 'There but for the grace of god, go I.' when it comes to refugees.

I know of a social worker who flew back here last month from her family in Zimbabwe, so flights were still coming and going . I'd have assumed that she quarantined.

Urmstongran

Where they are perfectly safe GagaJo whilst checks are made, hot meals provided and a doctor on call. Some of our own elderly residents don’t get that on a regular basis. If I was felling a war torn country, fearful for the life of myself and family I’d be darned grateful.

I agree. There's a reason why they make a bee-line for the UK despite travelling through many other countries en route.

Then again, the so-called SA virus manifested itself in this country !

This thread is about to morph ...