Heathrow must dedicate terminal to ‘red list’ arrivals, Home Office says
Heathrow must reopen Terminal 4 to prevent passengers from "red list" countries spreading variants, the Home Office has said amid claims the airport is becoming a "breeding ground" for infections.
The Home Office has urged Heathrow to use the terminal as a dedicated channel for passengers arriving from countries with high rates of Covid variants.
There are concerns the number of red list arrivals could increase significantly after India was added due to the emergence of a new double mutant variant and the spike in coronavirus rates in the country.
The Government wants Heathrow to prevent red list arrivals from mixing with passengers from other lower risk destinations as they face queues of up to six hours in arrival halls.
Lucy Moreton, professional officer for the Border Force union, said the queues caused by officers processing every passenger’s locator form meant arrivals from red, amber and green countries were mixing in a confined space for hours, making it impossible to isolate the risk.
Asked if it was a breeding ground for infection, she said: "Yes, very much so. When it’s so slow and the queues are so bad, then absolutely it’s a significant risk to the border force staff that are doing it, and to the travellers that are standing in those queues."
The problem has been compounded because all passenger locator forms and proof of negative test results have to be checked manually.
As the documentation is not digitised the airport’s e-gates remain shut, significantly slowing the rate at which Border Force staff can process passengers.
"It has been put forward to Heathrow to get red list passengers directly into terminal four and separate them from the others to avoid infection risk," said a Government source.
Between 8,000 and 10,000 passengers are arriving each day at the airport, of which up to 1,000 are thought to be from red list countries. However, airlines anticipate that between 500 and 700 passengers a day will arrive from India after it is added to the red list from 4am on Friday.
All flights from India are fully booked with an estimated 2,000 arriving each day to beat the deadline, after which all arrivals will be required to quarantine in a Government-approved hotel for 11 days at a cost of up to £1,750 per person.
A Heathrow spokesman said: "Heathrow has remained open throughout the pandemic at great cost to ensure the UK’s supply lines are protected and UK citizens can return home, and we will work with Government to ensure that remains the case.
"We will explore with ministers the possibility of an economically viable dedicated arrivals facility for passengers from red list countries. Our main concern is that UK Border Force is able to provide an acceptable level of service to all arriving passengers."
Boris Johnson denied there had been an unnecessary delay in adding India to the red list, saying the Covid variant discovered in the country was still "under investigation" rather than a strain of concern.
