The rush to get out of Pakistan...before it’s added to the red list..

[Watermelon1234]

Read this earlier and felt irritated on many levels.

1. If the covid numbers over there are high enough for it to be added o the red list, why give so much notice to allow everyone to get out before the need to quarantine in a hotel? Our numbers are under control now so it seems naive or foolish to risk disrupting this. It reminded me of the stampede to get out of London before Christmas and we know how that ended, with the Kent variant spread countrywide.

1. If the government think that people returning will quarantine in their own homes for 10 days without taking public transport or buying food etc, then they have learnt nothing from the last few months. And also, what if they return to households where other members (who haven’t been away) are having to work/attend school etc?

1. It seems there are large numbers rushing to return. Surely not all have had funerals or work commitments abroad, or am I missing something, when we’ve not been able to meet with our family who live at.the other end of the country, or even get a haircut etc? I thought holidays were still illegal?

Excuse the rant, it’s been a long week of Easter holidays......

Yeah. Nobody rushed back from Spain/France/Portugal etc though, did they? Nor is it the only country added to the red list. So is there a reason that you picked Pakistan for your rant?

There may be some validity to your issues about how the government has chosen to handle aspects of the restrictions, but picking to focus on on one country out of many does seem a tad... racist?

Besides which, if Charles and Camilla can go to Greece (an unnecessary journey in a pandemic no matter what they called it as "working") then perhaps others feel they have equally pressing reasons to travel?

Yes because I read specifically about that location in an article.

My views are the same whatever the country.

Yes, people rushed back from Spain and France last year and I thought that was stupid then too. (Even worse really as they then didn’t need to home quarantine). I had hoped we may have learnt from last summer....when many who returned from red countries after the deadline did not properly quarantine, including many people I know personally.

“does seem a tad... racist? “

Why? Are we not allowed to discuss government policy regarding travel to other countries in a pandemic?

Not sure you should idly throw around accusations like this without anything to back it up?

@Watermelon1234

“does seem a tad... racist? “

Why? Are we not allowed to discuss government policy regarding travel to other countries in a pandemic?

Not sure you should idly throw around accusations like this without anything to back it up?

I asked you why you chose that one country out of several added to the red list at exactly the same time. And you could have discussed government policy by either naming all the countries or none of them. So there was nothing idle in my comment - I am still awaiting an answer as to why just Pakistan. I am sure people are rushing back from the Philippines and Kenya too. Or not.

You questioned specifically why those people had travelled - well presumably they had cause to and fulfilled the criteria at a time when it was legal to travel. Why not question why anyone is travelling? Why only those who travelled to Pakistan?

It's very easy to discuss government policy without selecting any specific country /ethnicity as the target of that discussion.

It's utterly absurd of course, and undermines the whole system.

But then I can't get too worked up when the red list system as a whole is a shambles. Why is Pakistan on the list and India not? (110k daily infections, currently banned from all travel to New Zealand).

ignores ops arguments of why picking out Pakistan over other countries isn't racist (looks like a duck quacks like a duck etc)
I can't work out why logically India isn't on the red list yet
But than the cherry picking logic of red listing doesn't pan

& Op people may be coming back to work in UK as they were visiting before Ramadan over the Easter Holidays - many may even be key workers who cannot afford the time off -not just money but getting back for dc school, or not being off work because they are -you know -needed?

@Circumlocutious cross post!

x4 extra flights had been added to help any UK national get back before deadline, say a flight holds about 200 people.

So 800 extra seats return. Hardly a stampede.

Can't see what the concern is?

YANBU

Imo noone should be allowed to isolate in a house from abroad especially where there are others not isolating.
As op says there will be people going to school and work.
That is any country.

FWIW plenty of people of nationalities various rushed back to the UK from places in the Far East in March last year as the air transport system ground to a halt and it looked like logistically it might quickly be impossible for people to get home because flights were being canceled hand over fist....

say a flight holds about 200 people.

FYI your average widebody longhaul aircraft such as a 777,787 or A350 would hold 300-400 depending on configuration.

There was a big deal made of this in the media to be fair - it was tweeted about by Flightradar etc too.

I work with mostly Pakistani and Indian people. There has actually been a fair bit of moving around going on since Christmas. Lots have had family go back and forth. Lots of deaths in families, lots of family stuff to sort out with property and health - which 'feels' normal for this time of year really. Those things are OK to travel for, so that's that.

Meanwhile, France should be on the red list, India probably should be too. Places like Malawi however, probably shouldn't be.

Regardless of which country it is going on the red list, they have to give travellers the opportunity to arrange tests, quarantine or even give them the opportunity not to travel at all. I'd be pretty pissed off if landing in another country I was suddenly landed with a £1500 PP bill for quarantine that I wasn't aware of prior to take off

The whole UK 'quarantine' system is a farce. It's not quarantine if you can't magic yourself from the airport to your home. Majority of people, red, green, blue, purple, or yellow list, will use public transport - train or cab - to travel from the airport. That's after mixing with all the different coloured lists on flights and in the airport. As for giving people notice so that they can get back in time to spread covid (which was always a stupid thing and should never have happened for any country), it's clear the UK government doesn't understand what quarantine means and it's purpose.

Proper quarantine is what NZ, Australia, Vietnam, and other East Asian countries (some African ones too) have done or continue to do.

International travel and our open borders is our achilles heel in keeping cases down and new strains out.

Meanwhile, France should be on the red list, India probably should be too. Places like Malawi however, probably shouldn't be.

Fair point but objectively if you put France on the red list you've potentially got some serious logistics and trade issues even with essential worker exemptions, unlike Malawi.

Has Spain been added to the red list?!

I can’t find this on google?

The only way quarantine would be worth it is if every country is on the red list. It doesn't work otherwise.

Indirect fights exist, passengers mix (and breathe in the same air) on flights and in airports. That's why Australia, New Zealand, East Asia and Africa have or had across the board quarantine. Which the UK won't do.

I am more concerned about the California variant in the USA and the fact that it is about to be added to a Green List with no quarantine required.

I know a family that has come back from pakistan yesterday. Their kids will be at school on monday. Is the government going to check on that or do they just get away with it?

Wait, do people not have to quarantine in a hotel now? I’ve genuinely lost track of the rules...

Oh I see red list only. As you were....

It’s crazy that people are travelling around so much.