Arrivals Card for people entering Scotland from abroad

IN Germany travelers of ALL nationalities have to complete an Arrivals Card. This asks for basic details of where they will be self isolating for 14 days after travelling and how they will travel to that place, where they have traveled from plus one contact detail etc. These are collected and retained so it is easy and immediate to trace potential sufferers and transmitters, without having to rely on technology such as a phone app - which many will choose not to use. [Obviously some irresponsible people will use false data but no system is prefect and there could be a penalty for those that do this as it would represent fraud] These could be given out during a flight and retained afterwards in a secure place and then passed to a specified co-ordinating authority eg a dedicated and experienced Public Health team; maybe one attached to each airport. I dont know the full details of how this operates in germany but I suggest that we could ask travelers to contact a dedicated phone no. or e-mail address if they become unwell from suspected Covid 19 infection and then their contacts could be warned etc.

An Arrivals Card has the advantages of being quick and easy to introduce, we could do it this week with a bit of action and collaboration with airlines etc; ages before the PM has any bright ideas [which I very much doubt he will have].

Such a system MUST operate alongside COMPULSORY 14 DAY MINIMUM QUARANTINE FOR TRAVELERS FROM ABROAD.

Apparently in Poland this is backed up by random checks by the police to ensure people are self isolating for 14 days after travelling. Frankly, we do need what many may consider to be draconian measures if we are to be successful in managing this pandemic in as short a time as possible - otherwise it will linger on and have dreadful impacts on a weakened economy.

This could equally operate on board ferries if any are still bringing passengers from abroad - I doubt this now as cruises have stopped.

There is a loophole that people will come on coaches and trains from airports in England where they may have arrived from abroad; the system could still operate if passenger travel details are known, or people could just be asked to comply and we could hope that enough responsible people would do so. A bit of optimism needed I know!!

Why the contribution is important

People are entering the country from abroad, without any monitoring whatsoever, even from countries where the infection rate is high. This should have been addressed from the outset, way back in January; the infection could only come here from abroad after all.

THIS IS DEPLORABLE! TOTALLY IRRESPONSIBLE AND SHORT-SIGHTED ON THE PART OF ALL UK GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATIONS!

When the high level of infection in northern Italy was first reported I immediately recognised that there would be a threat from Brits returning from ski-ing holidays in northern Italy. I have flown between Verona and EH very many times to make trips to the Dolomites in Italy. Flights operate from Milan and Verona [and Bologna??] and a few from Innsbruck to take people on ski holidays. This was obvious to me and the Germans, again, recognised this problem of people returning from the Alps during the ski season. Why didnt we? It is obvious that we allowed the introduction of infection in a completely unchecked way, deplorable.

by biologist on May 11, 2020 at 09:56AM

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  • Posted by Notmyusername May 11, 2020 at 10:16

    UK is currently THE most infected country in the world. You can’t compare it to Germany. The chances of a traveller from abroad getting infected here is much higher than passing the infection. Blood tests can be introduced to show the persons’s immunity and if positive, the individual should be allowed to travel freely.
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