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A panel of scientific experts warned that allowing visitors from Ireland to enter Britain without quarantining could jeopardize British efforts to suppress the coronavirus.
The group, chaired by former chief scientific adviser David King, welcomed the British government’s announcement of the plan to introduce a 14-day quarantine requirement. However, he described the decision to exempt visitors from the Common Travel Area between Britain and Ireland as a “serious loophole”.
“It will be perfectly possible for someone to fly from a place where the level of infection is extremely high, such as New York, to Dublin, and then change planes to travel to London.
“For this, and for other reasons related to the spread of movement across the Irish border, it makes much more sense to treat the two main islands of Great Britain and Ireland as separate entities for human health purposes, as is already the case in animals health, or for the UK and the Republic of Ireland to agree on a common approach, ”he said in a report released Tuesday.
The Independent Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), which has been highly critical of the British government’s response to the epidemic, includes Gabriel Scally of the Royal Society of Medicine, Anthony Costello of University College London and Allyson Pollock of the University of Newcastle.
The group says that as the focus focuses on finding coronavirus cases, testing, tracing, and isolation, cross-border cooperation will be important.
“Northern Ireland is a particular case, since it has a land border with the Republic of Ireland. We urge the Northern Ireland Assembly Executive to try to harmonize its policies with those of the Republic of Ireland in accordance with the memorable Memorandum of Understanding agreed between the two jurisdictions regarding the coronavirus crisis, ”the report said.
Meanwhile, the British government has extended its support for job retention until October, which has seen the treasury pay 80 percent of the wages of 7.5 million employees in almost one million companies since the crisis began. coronavirus.
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, said that starting in August, companies would have to share the cost of the plan, and that workers without permits could work part-time.
In an interview with the BBC, Sunak said the plan was expensive but necessary, as he acknowledged that Britain was heading for a recession.
“We already know that many people have lost their jobs and that breaks my heart. We have already seen what is happening with Universal Credit’s claims.” This is not something we are going to wait to see, it is already happening.
“There are already businesses that are closing, there are already people who have lost their jobs. And, like I said, that’s heartbreaking for me, and that’s why I’m working around the clock to limit the amount of job loss. ”
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