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There is already a line of around 80 people at Faro airport, all of them passengers who arrived on today’s first flight from London / Stanstead, waiting more than an hour and a half to take the Covid-19 test. All because there is only one health technician to perform the tests, a passenger told South Information.
The Ryanair flight was the first of the day to arrive in Faro, preventive from the UK, having landed around 4:22 pm. The passengers, almost all Portuguese who return to spend Christmas, were directed first to the passport line, but shortly after to another, without any explanation.
They ended up knowing that they would have to take the test, as the Ministry of the Interior determined yesterday. The fact is that, according to a Portuguese passenger, “there is only one sanitary technician, who has even requested reinforcements, to test all these people.” Result: about an hour and a half after the plane landed in Faro, only three people had been examined.
The problem is that three more planes from the United Kingdom are scheduled to land tonight: one at 6:20 p.m. from London / Heathrow, another from Liverpool (8:30 p.m.) and the last from Manchester (9:30 p.m. ). “All these people will stay here in line, accumulated, who knows how long,” said the same passenger.
“There are people here with children, older ones, who are here without knowing when they will be dispatched. Some have relatives waiting outside, others depended on public transport, who will no longer be able to catch up, “added the same source.
Another issue that is causing annoyance is the fact that each test costs 100 euros. “We are a family of five, me, my wife and our three children and now we will have to pay 500 euros. We are not rich, we are immigrants, people who work in England, and 500 euros is a lot of money for us, “he told the South Information another passenger, also of English nationality.
Some of the passengers had even been screened in the UK, some of them two days ago. However, due to the very high number of cases that have occurred in that country, today, Monday, they still had not received the result. With a scheduled flight, all they had to do was make the trip.
A source from the Regional Health Administration told the South Information that the responsibility of organizing the tests at the airports, specifically in Faro, rests with ANA – Aeroportos de Portugal. Our newspaper has already asked this company for clarification, so far without response.
The Government yesterday decreed restrictions on the entry into Portugal of passengers on flights from the United Kingdom, which are now only allowed to nationals or legal residents in our country.
The restriction, in effect since midnight on Monday, was enacted after epidemiological developments in the United Kingdom, where a more contagious variant of the new coronavirus that causes Covid-19 disease has been identified.
Upon arrival in Portugal, passengers who meet those entry requirements must also present a laboratory test for negative SARS-Cov-2 detection.
According to the notices released by the Ministries of Internal Administration and Health, if passengers do not carry negative evidence, they will be “referred by the competent authorities” to “carry out said test within the airport, through qualified health professionals. for this purpose ”, remaining in isolation.
Another question for the passengers arriving today in Faro is how this isolation will take place, which can last up to 48 hours, the maximum estimated time to know the results of the tests. “I have a house to go to, where I will stay away from the family until I know the result of the test. And I’m going to travel in a rental car. But what about the people who are homeless here and leave with the family? How do they do the insulation? And how do they isolate themselves if they travel by taxi, for example? “Asked the passenger who contacted our newspaper.
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