Quarantines and online connections

Leo McKinstry warned that the Government was in danger of undermining the journey back to normality as the Covid-19 death rate continues to drop by the plan to quarantine travellers from June 8.

“A looming obstacle on the path to recovery can be found in ministers’ ill-conceived, ill-timed plan to impose quarantine on travellers to Britai,” he argued. “Government loyalists portray this crackdown as a bold step that will protect the public from a renewed spread of the virus. But in reality, it will inflict devastating harm on Britain while doing nothing for health.”

He said the move was draconian and ineffectual.

“At the very moment Britain and Europe are waking up from artificially induced comas, the Cabinet has decided to tranquillise a large section of our fragile economy for no useful purpose,” he said. “Home Secretary Priti Patel justifies this by declaring the country “owes it” to the virus victims to avoid a second spike in infections.”

He said the Government had ‘got it badly wrong’ and argued that quarantine might have had some effect back at the start when the first cases were emerging but, since then, millions had arrived in the UK without any checks.

“The imposition of quarantine now is a classic example of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted,” he added. “Such a step is not only far too late medically, but is also disastrous economically.

“The nonsense of quarantine should be replaced at air terminals and ports by an effective testing regime for all arrivals, backed up by new technology like thermal scanners.

“That would be a far better way to safeguard our health – and the economy.”

The Guardian

Tim Berners-Lee, co-founder of the World Wide Web Foundation (and inventor of the world wide web), said the internet had eased life in lockdown for many, be that those able to work from home, children doing school work and a simple video chat with loved ones.

“While many of us are cooped up indoors, we have seen examples of great collective endeavour and support: communities coming together to help each other and the most vulnerable, albeit keeping two metres apart,” he said. “In all of these things, the web has been the critical unifying force.”

However, he said, billions of people in the world do not have such easy access to the web. A digital divide holds back nearly half of the globe.

“The position is particularly dire across Africa, where only one in four people can access the web,” he said.

He said 60,000 children in the UK have no access to the internet at home and 12 million US homes don’t have broadband.

“These inequalities fall along the familiar lines of wealth, race and rural v urban divides,” he added. “As Covid-19 forces huge change to our lives, we have an opportunity for big, bold action that recognises that, as with electricity in the last century and postal services before that, the web is an essential utility that governments and business should combine to deliver as a basic right.

“Just as people campaign for clean water and access to education, we need a global campaign for universal internet access.”

The Scotsman

The newspaper’s leader argued that we must not let lockdown become habit forming.

It said those sectors of the economy that can re-open safely must do so ‘as quickly as possible’ as we see thousands of jobs lost as firms are forced to close or scale back, such as Rolls Royce this week.

“We need to trust our governments to do the right thing over the relaxation of the restrictions,” it said. “If we all remain cooped up inside, in lonely self-isolation, the damage to Scotland’s economy will only get worse and eventually the problems that result will arrive at our door.”

The paper condemned those who flocked to beaches and resorts the previous weekend, flouting social distancing.

It added: “We must not, however, let the lockdown become habit-forming, get inside our heads and make us afraid to go outside. We do need to be open to the idea of re-opening our economy in a cautious and sensible way.”