Politics latest news: Closing borders completely deemed 'probably ineffective' by Sage, claims minister
A full closure of Britain's borders to avoid the spread of foreign coronavirus variants was deemed "probably ineffective" by Government advisers, a minister has said.
Leaked advice from the Government's Sage committee, published in The Times, suggests ministers were warned of the dangers of the new South African variant at least two weeks ago and advised that a full border shutdown or mandatory quarantine for all arrivals was the only way to prevent its spread.
But Michelle Donelan, the Universities Minister, has said the committee actually advised that a full border closure would be "ineffective", and recommended quarantine and testing for arrivals instead.
"What they actually said was it would prove probably ineffective to completely lock down your borders, and a better strategy is quarantining and utilising testing, which is exactly what we are doing," she told Times Radio.
"At the beginning of the pandemic the World Health Organisation also suggested that closing down borders would potentially be ineffective as well."
Professor Calum Semple, who sits on the Sage committee, said: “It’s much easier if you are a small island to close your borders. But in general I do support restricting the movement of people at this time.”
The dispute over border measures come after Public Health England reported 105 new cases of the South African variant in the UK, 11 of which have no link to international travel.
Door-to-door testing has begun in at least eight postcodes.
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