Wales Quarantine Plan for UK Covid Hotspots
Welsh Government looks at coronavirus travel ban
Last updated 5th Oct 2020
People travelling to Wales from certain parts of the UK could soon have to go into quarantine.
The Welsh Government says it's "actively considering" imposing the restrictions on people coming from areas with high levels of coronavirus.
Talks are ongoing today (Monday, October 5) to decide if restrictions can be introduced.
Wales health minister Vaughan Gething said: "We're having to consider how we use our power to protect lower-prevalence areas of Wales but at the same time, we don't want to take a whole-nation approach."
Leader of Plaid Cymru, Adam Price MS said: “We have consistently called for measures to limit travel into areas with low Covid-19 prevalence. This is true of travel within Wales and into Wales and I have raised this matter with the First Minister for two weeks running.
“At a time when we need to act quicker and smarter to eliminate the virus, it’s regrettable that it took the UK Government’s negligent dismissal of travel restrictions to bounce the Welsh Government into action.”
The Conservative health spokesperson in the Welsh Parliament, Andrew RT Davies MS, said quarantine restrictions for people travelling to Wales from Covid hotspots in England was a “dangerous slope” for the Welsh Government to go down.
Mr Davies said: “If you start introducing such quarantine restrictions in Wales, the does that mean there is a quid pro-quo that England, Scotland and Northern Ireland will start doing the same for Welsh residents?
“There are all sorts of questions to be answered before you even entertain implementing such dramatic action.”
Mr Davies said that targeted lockdowns can be achieved using the most current data to protect those in the worst-affected areas only, to keep business, education, and other aspects of life operating as close to normal in areas not as affected. Some 80 percent of Wales is back under lockdown.
He said: “We have to appeal to people to act responsibly and sensibly, not pile restriction upon restriction on them, which will be an attack on our civil liberties.
“Were I in the Health Minister’s shoes, I’d be looking at using all the available localised data to lockdown only where necessary. This is not happening in Wales, although the data is available.
“The Welsh Labour-led Government needs to release community by community data to enable scrutiny of whole county lockdowns.”