Boris Johnson’s government is considering the possibility of closing the borders to travellers to prevent new strains of Covid being spread in the UK, cabinet minister George Eustice has said.
Pressed on Sky News whether he would like to see the full closure of borders to foreign visitors, the environment secretary told Sky News: “We always keep these things under review. It’s been considered.
“There is concern at the moment about the number of mutant strains that there are, so different strains of this coronavirus are cropping up in other countries.
“Concerns that there’s a risk one day there will be a strain that might be able to evade the vaccine. That’s why last week the prime minister toughened up the current restrictions — we require a test before people travel, and they’ve got to quarantine while they are here. There are now no exemptions from this policy.
Pressed again on whether he would like to see the measure, he said: “Personally I wouldn’t like to see all borders closed — I’d like us to get past this pandemic, get the vaccine rolled out and be able to start opening things rather than closing things.
“But we can’t rule anything out but for now the restrictions we have in place with that requirement for quarantine and the requirement for a pre-travel test, we think that is sufficient and the right, appropriate measure for now.”
