Coronavirus scientists 'playing poker game' with figures says IDS
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Earlier on Wednesday, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps confirmed England will allow travellers from the EU and US to avoid quarantine if they are fully vaccinated. Despite Welsh Labour warning of “risks” in England’s plan, they admitted it would be “nonsensical” for Wales not to do the same.
Mark Drakeford, Welsh First Minister, complained he would not have agreed to the move if it was up to him.
He said: “We have said all along as the Welsh government that we would have taken a different approach to international travel.
“I still think this is the year when international travel is best avoided. We do not want to see in Wales a situation which we faced in September of last year, when the virus was reimported into Wales by people who have visited other parts of the world.
“We would have rather a more precautionary approach by the UK Government and have done our best to persuade them of that.”
READ MORE: Fully vaccinated US and EU travellers to skip quarantine
Speaking to the BBC, Mr Drakeford said it is “very important that the UK Government is able to offer us assurances that the risks that will be run… that proper precautions are in place”.
But he also admitted that practically it would be very hard for Wales not to follow the move, as most people coming to Wales from outside the UK would be travelling through English airports not Welsh ones.
The First Minister then shared he would challenged the UK Government to show how it could be confident that people being allowed in were properly vaccinated, saying: “In the United States, for example, there are no vaccine certificates, as I understand.
“So, how will the UK Government know that somebody travelling from the United States has been doubly vaccinated and that it has been done to the same sort of protocols and standards that we would expect in this country?
“We need to understand a little better than we do at the moment as to how that evidence will be collected and how that evidence can be provided in a way that we can all rely on.”
Mr Shapps confirmed on Wednesday American and European travellers entering England would not have to quarantine if they have been fully vaccinated with a jab approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) or by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Travellers will still need to take either a lateral flow or PCR test pre-departure and a PCR test on the second day after they arrive.
The changes come into effect from 4am on Monday, with Mr Shapps saying: “We’re helping reunite people living in the US and European countries with their family and friends in the UK.”
Lewis Goodall, policy editor at BBC Newsnight, shared however France is not included in the new arrangements due to being on the ‘amber plus list’.
The Scottish Government will also follow England’s lead and allow fully-vaccinated US and EU travellers to avoid quarantine.
In his statement, Michael Matheson, the Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport, said this was possible because of Scotland’s successful vaccine programme.
Angela Rayner, deputy leader of the Labour Party, called the move “reckless” and warning it could lead to the importation of more variants like the Delta strain that are more transmissible and could wreak havoc.
Sir John Bell, regius professor of medicine at Oxford University, also told BBC Radio 4’s World At One it was “self-indulgent” for the Government to be focusing on what freedoms to give to fully vaccinated people while the vast majority of people in some poorer countries do not have access to jabs.
It comes as Covid cases on the whole continue to fall in the UK, with July 28 seeing 27,734 new cases and 91 deaths within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test.
The figure is a slight increase on July 27 when 23,511 were reported but remains below the figures of 40-50k recorded earlier this month.
But Health Secretary Sajid Javid has warned “no one really knows” how infections will turn as data shows the effects of ending lockdown restrictions
In total, the UK has seen 5,770,928 cases and 129,430 deaths from the virus.
Another 35,446 first doses and 151,851 second doses of coronavirus vaccine were administered on Tuesday.
In total, 46,689,242 first doses and 37,610,911 second doses have been administered, equalling 88.3 percent and 71,1 percent of the population respectively.
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