The quarantine debacle could cripple Britain’s travel industry

The government’s battle cry in the fight against the pandemic is ‘Follow the science’. But it is hard to see the science behind the disastrous and potentially crippling 14-day quarantine rule which came into effect on Monday — or, rather, failed to come into effect in any meaningful sense of the word. It’s not been made available or published anywhere, and even the government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, politely refrained from giving the ruling his endorsement, saying it was a matter for the politicians: ‘They make the policy, and they make the timing decisions.’

There’s nothing remotely logical about closing the door on visitors to Britain when it’s been flapping wide open for months with no restrictions whatsoever, including during those awful days in April when infections were at their highest. The cabinet is split on the issue — and there is no excuse for this. The Prime Minister should have asserted himself weeks ago and now looks like he’s following the mood rather than determining it, as he makes it known — albeit not officially — that as of 29 June, a number of ‘air bridges’ will be set up with countries that have low infection rates, such as France, Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal.

This will, essentially, give the green light for travel this summer without any requirement to self-isolate. To some extent, this will appease travel companies and should be enough to stop British Airways, Ryanair and easyJet pursuing their legal action against the government — and halt a similar move by the new Quash Quarantine coalition, representing some of the largest hotel groups and tour operators.

But how on earth has this debacle been allowed to escalate so dangerously? Certainly, the Prime Minister hasn’t sounded as if he’s been able to convince himself, never mind anyone else, proffering at one point that the quarantine rule could be withdrawn when ‘other countries are in at least as good a position as we are’.