UK bound flights from India gone to a desperate scramble to beat Friday's quarantine deadline

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Cases of Indian Covid variant may have DOUBLED in a week in Britain as data shows mutant strain has now been spotted 215 times

• Data from Government's official Covid variant tracking scheme show B.1.617 strain has been spotted 215 times
• Suggests one in 200 swabs analysed are positive for Indian variant, which scientists said was 'very troubling'
• Government has been slammed for allowing thousands of travellers from India to pour into the UK every week
• Boris Johnson will hold a press conference at 5pm tonight where he will face questions about the travel delay 

By Connor Boyd Assistant Health Editor For Mailonline

Published: 09:14 BST, 20 April 2021 | Updated: 10:46 BST, 21 April 2021

 

 

India's troublesome Covid variant has been spotted more than 200 times in Britain, MailOnline can reveal — amid warnings Number 10 was 'weeks too late' with its travel ban.

The most up-to-date data from the Government's official coronavirus variant tracking programme shows 103 infected people have had the mutant strain.

But separate figures published by the same group of experts show the B.1.617 variant has actually been spotted 215 times – with it making up around one in every 200 positive swabs that are analysed.

Scientists said it was a 'very troubling' number and that it was proof the variant was spreading, with 85 per cent of samples detected in the past month.

 

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9490333/Boris-Johnson-hold-5pm-Covid-press-conference-amid-growing-concerns-Indian-variant.html

 

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Border officials spot 100 fake Covid certificates every day, MPs hear 

Around 100 people are trying to enter the country each day with a 'fake Covid certificate', MPs have heard.

The fake documents claiming a traveller has a recent negative test result are 'very easy' to forge, MPs were told.

And there is no way to tell how many more are being missed.

 

Lucy Moreton, professional officer for the Immigration Services Union (ISU), which represents border immigration and customs staff in the UK, also said there is 'little to no' evidence on how well people are adhering to quarantine rules.

Meanwhile, MPs heard that long queues found at airports could be a 'breeding ground' for the virus.

And experts raised concerns about the traffic light system for travel.

 

Ms Moreton told the All Party Parliamentary Group on Coronavirus that around 20,000 people are coming into the country each day, the majority of whom are hauliers.

 

o enter England people must provide proof of a negative test taken in the three days before departure – which can be shown to border agents as a printed document or through an email or text message.

Asked how border agents are able to verify proof of a negative test, Ms Moreton told MPs: 'We're not is the simple answer, it's predominately taken on trust.

'We do get 100 or more a day of fake Covid certificates, that we catch.'

Europol warned earlier this year about the illicit sale of false negative Covid test certificates.

This included a forgery ring selling negative test results to passengers at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, and in the UK fraudsters were caught selling bogus Covid-19 documents showing negative test results for £100 each.

'We catch them if there is a spelling error somewhere,' Ms Moreton said.

But many certificates are in a foreign language which could make spelling mistakes trickier to spot, she added

'Otherwise they are taken at face value,' she added.

She said that the documents are checked against a series of code numbers but 'these things are very easy to knock up electronically unfortunately'.

Asked how many could be falling through the cracks, she added: 'It's inherently unknowable.

'A lot of the border and immigration and migration and quarantine controls are based on trust: we trust people when they say they have not been in a red list country in the last 10 days; we trust people when they say that they are going to 2 Acacia Avenue to quarantine; we trust that there is an Acacia Avenue and that when they are going to go there, they are going to stay there.

'The whole thing is based on an assumption that people will do the right thing.'

Ms Moreton said that it was not possible to segregate people depending on which country they had come from in immigration halls – where people are waiting an average of two to three hours while border agents check their usual travel documentation as well as additional requirements as a result of the pandemic.

She said: 'You've flown on a plane with lots of other people, if you've been in a destination where that in itself has been an international mixing ground, you've come through an airport and then you've stood in the arrivals hall for three or four or five hours – we know it is not possible to segregate people from red, amber and green, they're going to mix – yes there is air conditioning but it is still a confined space, and even if we separated that one risky passenger out at some point in that journey, my understanding is that transmission could have occurred at any point.'

Asked if the process itself is a 'breeding ground for infections', she said: 'Right now, very much so. When it's so slow and the queues are so bad, then it is a risk both to our members and the travellers in those queues.'

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9490333/Boris-Johnson-hold-5pm-Covid-press-conference-amid-growing-concerns-Indian-variant.html

 

 

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Ministers urge Heathrow to dedicate Terminal 4 to 'red list' arrivals amid claims airport is becoming a Covid 'breeding ground' with queues of up to SIX hours at border control

• Home Office wants terminal to be reopened as designated red list arrival hall
• Officials are bracing for a huge influx of red list arrivals after India added to list
• Between 8,000 and 10,000 passengers are pouring into the airport each day

By Connor Boyd Assistant Health Editor For Mailonline

Published: 11:43 BST, 21 April 2021 | Updated: 12:09 BST, 21 April 2021

 

 

 

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9491755/Heathrow-told-dedicate-terminal-red-list-arrivals-amid-claims-airport-Covid-breeding-ground.html

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