In the news day, just unbelievable

[vegas888]

Thousands of passengers from coronavirus hotspots such as Iran, Italy and even China are flying into Britain, despite the government’s domestic lockdown.

Flights have been arriving in London from Beijing and Rome every day, while Iran Air is operating three flights a week from Tehran.

The revelation follows a decision by the EU last week to ban virtually all travellers from outside the bloc for 30 days.

The article is behind the Times paywall. You're distributing a link to a website that most people on here cannot read. I bet you haven't even read the whole article either.

I think Boris needs to sort out the 60 million who are in the UK already. Half of whom seem to be ignoring ALL advice about social distancing.

You're telling porkies aren't you OP. Calm down

Bet the op is one of those saying
"Week I may as well be down the beach with my whole family if they're going to let in all of those nasty infected foreigners "
Ffs

I thought they could ban people from coming or going home. I have friends stuck in the U.K. who can’t get home to Spain?

They’ve had long enough now to get home, all flights from these places should of been banned now

Bet you wouldn't be saying that if one of your family members was on one of those flights.

Reported to be moved to right board, not even worth wasting my time saying what I think of OP

Good grief you lot need to give your heads a wobble bitching about the "right board" accusations of scaremongering that are simple to prove but you wont bother chances are they are true

It's a pandemic it needs talking about

I thought that during our transition period, all EU rules applied here, so either the EU decision must be a Schengen one or I am wrong about that. It makes me angry. It was clear that we ended to end all flights from China to the whole of Europe in late January. I don't understand how international leaders could look at what was happening in Wuhan and not think "We have to do everything it takes to make sure that doesn't happen here". I feel that the supply chain for cheap Chinese factory goods and the money gained from tourists outside the Hubei zone was prioritised over people's lives. This pandemic is the result of international inertia. When it is all over we need to have serious look at Western addiction to cheap Chinese factory goods and the high price we paid for the lack of diversity in our supply chains. Large corporations should be required to have pandemic risk built into their supply chain so that they can continue operating if factories in one region come inaccessible. This would make governments quicker to act to save lives.

What's with saying a coronavirus hotspot? We are a coronavirus hot spot OP. We have way more cases than have been tested for. Surely the people flying in just need to self isolate and socially distance themselves? They aren't bringing the virus here! It's here, full of glory and spreading like butter. Anyone coming in that may have it (I'm sure they are doing checks at the other end) just needs to follow guidelines once they are here

@daisychain01 you can sign up for 5 free articles a week from The Times. They send an e-mail with 5 suggested articles, but you can browse and choose whichever articles you want.

My father, over 70, is currently in a foreign country (not currently a coronavirus hotspot but who knows how things will develop) and tried to get an early flight home, but was unable to do so. I have no idea when he'll make it home. I certainly hope it's a when not an if because some people have decided that the British govt should abandon British citizens trapped overseas.

If they need to go into quarantine on their return then that's fine, but leaving people stranded in countries where they may not speak the language or be able to access healthcare is wrong.

Telling porkies....grow up and check flight arrivals at Heathrow if you think it’s lies or go and buy a decent newspaper.

I’d be more worried about flights from Italy at the moment. We live in London and there are still a good amount of tourists here.

Lots of people have been trying to get home for a while. Flights keep getting cancelled.

I know from people trying to get home to families flights haven’t even been half full.

I read it and was equally appalled. They are passengers. They are being asked to 'self-quarantine' for 14 days, but we already know good people are at following rules.

Op there is no doubt flights are arriving. What’s being said is you don’t know why or how many people are on these flights, it could easily be people repatriating. In fact it likely is.

As said, calm down.

We've moved this over to the coronavirus topic now, OP.

Iran has a lot of cases so I think we should take the temperature before people set off for the UK. If my son has to have his taken every day before he starts work it would be reasonable to do it to everyone on arrival and before departure to the UK (may be airports already do that - I'm not sure).

China probably has it more under control than London though so I would not put it in the same category as iran.

I’ve just checked the arrivals boards for Heathrow and my local airport. A massive decrease in flights returning and I assume the majority are repatriation of British citizens. The news reported yesterday embassy staff (who you would expect to stick it out until the end to help any remaining British citizens) now need to be brought back. They are abroad to help us if we need them. It is only right they are brought back here when the time is right.

Here's a rather crucial paragraph in the piece:

Passengers showing symptoms of the infection are not allowed to board flights in the three hotspot countries. Those who do take off are asked to self-isolate for 14 days on arrival in the UK, although there are no means of enforcing this.

Yes, do calm down please.
You can't lock people down. My father's parents sent him from Berlin to an aunt outside and the aunt got him on Kinder Transport in 1939.

I have friends who have gone to visit parents in North America and immediately had to self isolate for 14 days. Their homes are here and they will be able to return when they can get a flight, because they have dual citizenship, but will start another 14 days of self isolation. They are lucky because they are with nice families who have plenty of space and are considering whether they just stay in n America and continue working remotely because it's what they woukd be doing here.

Not the same decision when expensive hotel bills are being racked up or backpackers are in skanky hostels.

Repatriation flights.

Sorry to hear that you are not intelligent enough to google that before posting the sort of alarmist bollocks that has ruined Facebook.

There are people out there who still think that sharing news stories from reputable sources about coronavirus is "alarmist" and "scaremongering" - are these the same people who are also not social distancing and not taking the threat seriously?