COVID-19: More action could be taken on borders to prevent variants, PM suggests
Travellers arriving in the UK must quarantine for 10 days on arrival, and have had a negative test 72 hours prior to departure.
Friday 22 January 2021 22:04, UK
More action could be taken on border closures amid the sustained COVID-19 death rate, the prime minister has said.
Speaking at Friday's Downing Street news conference, Boris Johnson said: "I really don't rule out that we may need to take further measures still.
"We may need to go further to protect our borders because we do not want after all the effort we are going to in this country... to put that at risk by having a new (COVID-19) variant come back in."
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As he was speaking, one traveller at Heathrow's terminal two, took a photograph of lines of dozens of people crowded into lanes at passport control.
As it stands, travellers arriving in the UK must quarantine for 10 days on arrival, and have had a negative COVID-19 test 72 hours prior to departure.
A spokesman for Heathrow explained that these requirements had meant longer lines at immigration - an area of the airport the Home Office border force controls.
He added: "We have said since last May that social distancing is not feasible in an airport. With a flight of 300 people, if they were to all be two metres apart, the line would need to be a kilometre long."
He said in order to mitigate for the lack of space, the airport asks all passengers to wear a face covering. People in this photograph are complying with that request.
A Home Office spokesman said people should not be travelling.
"We are in a national lockdown to protect the NHS and save lives. People should not be travelling unless absolutely necessary."
And added: "It's ultimately up to individual airports to ensure social distancing on site."
The only flight bans the UK has in place are from South America and Portugal, after a new variant was discovered in Brazil earlier this month.
It comes after a government minister said earlier that a full border closure is under "consideration".
Environment secretary George Eustice told Sky News that "everything is always kept under review" when asked if a full border shutdown could be introduced.
"We always keep things under review and it's being considered," he said.
"There is concern at the moment at number of mutant strains that there are - different strains of this coronavirus are cropping up in other countries.
"There are concerns that there is a risk that one day there will be a strain that might be able to evade the vaccine.
"That's why last week the prime minister toughened up the current restrictions.
"We require a test before people travel and then they must quarantine while they're here.
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"There are now no exemptions from that policy, so we've already toughened it up - we think that's the right approach for now but, obviously, everything is always kept under review."
A number of countries have had their borders fully or partially closed since last year, in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, including Australia and New Zealand.
Sky News has asked the Home Office to comment on the scene at Heathrow on Friday.