France has announced plans to bring in airport testing by the end of October, joining other nations in the EU in moving to make travel safer.
The comments came as a study reported that airport testing could catch more Han 60% of infections.
The report was commissioned by several UK airlines and undertaken by Edge Health, Oxera and Dr Kit Yates, co-director, the Centre for Mathematical Biology at the University of Bath. It countered an earlier paper by Public Health England, which estimated that testing on arrival would only catch 7% of virus cases, informing the government’s current 14-day quarantine strategy.
The analysis said: “The PHE paper is based on a theoretical model and is not calibrated to real-world data. It does not consider actual infection rates in the country of origin and therefore fails to provide any real insight into the relative risk that inbound travellers pose to the UK population.
“The PHE model assumes that all travellers who are infected and detectable with a test prior to departure do not board flights to the UK. Therefore, the 7% cited by the government only accounts for travellers who become detectable during the course of their flight. Instead, Edge Health and Oxera estimate that up to 63% of infected passengers attempting to enter the UK could be prevented from doing so with a testing scheme – vastly higher than the 7% figure offered by PHE.”
Shai Weiss, CEO, Virgin Atlantic, commented: “We urgently need the introduction of a passenger testing regime here in the UK to safely replace quarantine and support the UK’s economic recovery, which relies on free flowing trade and tourism. Half a million UK jobs depend on a fully functioning aviation industry, therefore it’s vital that policy decisions are based on the latest possible evidence.
“The Government’s Global Travel Taskforce should consider this new analysis closely and act on findings to swiftly implement a testing regime which opens up the skies safely and removes 14-day quarantine. The industry has already shown it can deliver passenger-funded, rapid, on site tests that do not divert vital NHS resources. We are ready to work together, but time is of the essence.”
France has been working with the EU to standardise travel between countries within the EU and Schengen zone. Earlier this month saw the European Council adopt a recommendation on a coordinated approach to the restrictions of free movement in response to the pandemic.
The EC said that the recommendation aimed “to avoid fragmentation and disruption, and to increase transparency and predictability for citizens and businesses”.
The Council agreed that any measures restricting free movement to protect public health must be proportionate and non-discriminatory, and must be lifted as soon as the epidemiological situation allows.
Gloria Guevara, WTTC president & CEO, said: “It is very encouraging to see the door beginning to open to allow airport testing on departure. We have been calling for a rapid and cost-effective testing on departure regime at airports around the world for several months now, so this is a step in the right direction.
“Latest WTTC research shows the positive effect airport testing will have to revive international air travel, bring back jobs and resuscitate the global economy. Almost 20 million jobs across Europe could be saved, including three million in Germany, 1.93 million in the UK, 1.91 million in Italy and more than 1.5 million in France.
“That is why we support the introduction of schemes at Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports in Paris, Heathrow in London and the recent trial which took place between Rome’s Fiumicino Airport and Milan Linate. We hope this will inspire other countries to follow their lead and implement similar initiatives.
“However, to save the global Travel & Tourism sector, we need a standardised international testing protocol. Full cooperation and coordination are crucial to restore seamless travel and remove ineffective and costly quarantines.
“Removing or significantly reducing quarantine times, already introduced by some countries, could restore vital international business travel, first on short-haul flights and then between important financial hubs, such as Frankfurt, London and New York and other key transatlantic services.
“With the commercial aviation sector hanging in the balance, it is more important than ever that we explore every practical avenue to speed up airport testing through targeted pilots.”
Insight: Slowly, slowly travelly monkey and, with the desperate sound of airlines reaching down the back of the sofa to fund studies, there is - and prepare to be astounded - an indication that PHE might not be up to scratch.
While the UK government takes a few months to work out what it does with this information, the EU27 are working out how to allow travel with the minimal amount of infection and friction, all, it is hoped, in time for the ski season.
Regular readers will recall that this all kicked off during the ski season, leading to stranded guests and infuriated ski resorts. Resorts owners this hack has spoken to have spent the intervening months ensuring that their properties are Covid safe in the hope that they can make up lost ground. Summer may be gone, but hope remains for a winter bounty.