AN SNP MP has called on a tightening of travel borders across the UK and Ireland to prevent importing mutant viruses.
Philippa Whitford, speaking during a debate on coronavirus this afternoon, told MPs that the countries which had experienced the SARS epidemic of 2002 had coped better during this pandemic as they had quickly learned lessons from the past.
She added that many of these countries were now seeing their economies return to normal.
The Central Ayrshire MP explained: "The countries which have suffered the least economic harm are those with previous experience of SARS who, last February, quickly acted on their learning from the epidemic of 2002.
“They initially closed their borders and have since maintained tight border control with testing and strict quarantine of all arrivals.
“These countries like Taiwan, New Zealand and Singapore, all now have domestic economies that are fully open and societies engaged in the pleasures of sporting event, dining out, or simply having a few friends round.”
Ms Whitford said that while it was positive that travellers arriving in the UK now had to be tested for the virus, the lateral flow devices used for tests were not suitable.
She also urged the Government to make the “common travel area” of the UK and Ireland Covid secure.
She said: “Let's avoid importing any more dangerous COVID variants by tightly controlling the external borders of the UK, and through cooperation with the devolved nations, and the Republic of Ireland, try to make the whole common travel area COVID secure.
“I welcomed the plan to require pre-travel tests for those coming to the UK, but they should be PCR tests, not lateral flow devices which miss over half of those carrying the virus.”
The MP also said that the UK Government should not be spending an “eye-watering” sum of money on the lateral flow tests, and instead should “fund the expansion of NHS labs” which could provide a faster result from the more accurate tests available for coronavirus.
Finally Ms Whitford added that the current lockdown was essential and said the government should not be focussing on an end date, and instead treat the public “like grown ups”.
She said: “Rather than already discussing arbitrary end dates for this lockdown. It needs to be maintained long enough to fully suppress the current outbreak.”
Dr Liam Fox, Conservative MP, criticised Deputy First Minister John Swinney during his contribution to the debate, by saying his comments at the weekend that a referendum was a priority were a “damning indictment of nationalistic fanaticism over independence.”
Mr Swinney told a reporter on Sunday that a second referendum was an “essential priority” in the country’s response to the pandemic.
Dr Fox said: “The people of Scotland are asking 'Will I get my vaccine soon as a response to COVID? Will I get my business support as a response to COVID?'
“What about the Scottish Government? The Deputy First Minister says a second referendum is a critical response to COVID.
"What a damning indictment of nationalist fanaticism over independence, taking greater importance than the needs of the Scottish people.
"We can deal with public health emergencies much better as a United Kingdom.”
Health minister Edward Argar told MPs he hopes the new restrictions will not have to be in place until March 31, and said that the restrictions would be reviewed as soon as it was “safe to do so”.
He said: “Our regulations provide for these new restrictions until 31 March 2021. I hope they may not be needed for as long as that, but that time allows us to take steady, controlled and evidence-led decisions including moving places through tiers on a local basis, again, when it is safe to do so…But sadly we are not in that place as we stand here and debate this today.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel