Red list travellers coming via Turkey to avoid quarantine

[GiveMeTulipsfromAmsterdam]

Bbc news today shows increasing numbers of travellers from red list countries flying to Turkey on route to the UK

www-bbc-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56984057.amp?utm_source=upday&utm_medium=referral

This was always going to happen and will increase liklihood of new variants so I'm relieved that the UK's vaccine programme is well under way

I know someone who’s been travelling for work the whole way through and he’s been going via different countries to avoid various things.

So getting a train to another European country then flying home from there.
To be fair his behaviour doesn’t surprise me as he doesn’t appear to follow any rules anyway.

Not at all surprised by this. The Maldives is another country being used like this for travellers from Dubai and South Africa to avoid quarantine. It’s not right, but you can’t blame people for wanting to avoid a costly hotel stay when they can have an extra holiday instead for a fraction of the price. The rules need to be tightened.

@AllTheCakes

Not at all surprised by this. The Maldives is another country being used like this for travellers from Dubai and South Africa to avoid quarantine. It’s not right, but you can’t blame people for wanting to avoid a costly hotel stay when they can have an extra holiday instead for a fraction of the price. The rules need to be tightened.

It was always going to happen since quarantine is quite expensive.

The fact that we have a high percentage of the population vaccinated (and many double vaccinated) helps confer protection against travellers spreading covid.

The best way forward (IMO) is for countries that manufacture the vaccine to increase production and offer to the countries with high rates of infection.

The variant most likely to come in with people travelling home via Turkey is the India variant (B.1.617) had been confirmed in the UK as of 28 April. There is a suspected 200 cases of that. www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-55659820

I think covid is here to stay and probably around most of the world. Although some countries have largely kept it out due to being at a considerable distance from other countries so borders can be closed (Aus and NZ) they probably cannot/won't want to do that forever so need to be vaccinated anyway.

It just shows how important vaccines are for the world to move forward.

I'm amazed it's as easy to get round the rules. You'd think they'd be able to see where you've been with passport records.

It says in the article that Turkey have already closed this loop hole (says that travellers now had to board in dorms) Seems a little late to report it now!

Given we also granted exception to Indian diplomats to join the G7 pre summit discussions, who then went on to have covid, nothing seems fool proof!

@Crazycatlady83

It says in the article that Turkey have already closed this loop hole (says that travellers now had to board in dorms) Seems a little late to report it now!

Given we also granted exception to Indian diplomats to join the G7 pre summit discussions, who then went on to have covid, nothing seems fool proof!

It says: "Turkey has since tightened its rules on people arriving from India, who must now quarantine in designated dormitories." It doesn't say that it has closed the loophole for people arriving from other countries..... therefore the story is relevant still.

I agree about the G7 diplomats - a continuation of 'one rule for us....' etc

People have been pouring in from high risk countries throughout the pandemic.

The Gvt have made it illegal to have a cup of tea with your elderly mother, kept our children out of school, spent our taxes on a year of furlough, while doing nothing effective to stop the reintroduction of infection through this route.

N.B the sob story interviews with people who couldn’t get back from India....after flying to attend a huge family wedding. Perfectly legally. When here in the UK weddings have been subject to draconian restrictions. And countless people, like the Queen, sat alone and I hugged at funerals.

It makes me more angry than I can say.

Yes to vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate, but how many lives could have been saved without this flow of new infection?

Look at a mini documentary made my Led By Donkeys which documents the number of infected people travelling into the country when lockdown and infection were at peak.

They were staying for 10 days in Turkey which was not on the red list, hence they weren’t coming from a red list country.

As hotels in Turkey are that much cheaper than 10 days hotel quarantine I’m not surprised at all that people did this. Earlier on others tried coming by literally transitting in Turkey, this was always against the rules and many got hefty fines (I imagine many others got away with it)

The scandal is the arbitrary way the government have decided on where is red.

@UpTheJunktion

People have been pouring in from high risk countries throughout the pandemic.

The Gvt have made it illegal to have a cup of tea with your elderly mother, kept our children out of school, spent our taxes on a year of furlough, while doing nothing effective to stop the reintroduction of infection through this route.

N.B the sob story interviews with people who couldn’t get back from India....after flying to attend a huge family wedding. Perfectly legally. When here in the UK weddings have been subject to draconian restrictions. And countless people, like the Queen, sat alone and I hugged at funerals.

It makes me more angry than I can say.

Yes to vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate, but how many lives could have been saved without this flow of new infection?

Look at a mini documentary made my Led By Donkeys which documents the number of infected people travelling into the country when lockdown and infection were at peak.

Very true, great post.

My DH transitted though Turkey recently (he’s working in a red list country and direct flights have been stopped) and said half his flight was full of people having a holiday for 10 days before connecting to U.K. to avoid hotel quarantine. He was pretty shocked at how busy and unorganised both Turkey and Heathrow were in terms of keeping red list and green list passengers separate.

He did the hotel quarantine and said it wasn’t actually that bad - he worked, you could go outside twice a day to get some fresh air, hotel very helpful etc. Boring but better than risking getting stuck in a 3rd country of rules change!

It's criminal. Everyone should be in an airport hotel for two weeks. No green or red list countries.

When the Gvt finally put India on the red list the airlines were madly trying to put on extra flights to get everyone back in before the deadline. It was left to the management of Heathrow to say ‘no’ because they didn’t think they could safely process extra passengers. The Gvt would happily have allowed it. As it was over 3000 a people a day came in in the days between the announcement and implementation of the restriction.

It makes no sense whatsoever.

I understood that people going via turkey were actually quarantined there. So no more of a risk coming into the U.K. than people starting their journey in turkey.
If the U.K. will let people travel here from anywhere without hotel quarantine this will happen. I don’t actually see the problem so long as people are waiting 10-14 days in isolation somewhere after leaving a high risk country before continuing to the U.K.

@CimCardashian

I know someone who’s been travelling for work the whole way through and he’s been going via different countries to avoid various things.

So getting a train to another European country then flying home from there.
To be fair his behaviour doesn’t surprise me as he doesn’t appear to follow any rules anyway.

But they’re not actually doing anything illegal.. that just highlights how ridiculous the ‘rules’ are for me.

One country no, another next to it.. yes, and those two countries have free movement between them. Illogical

Sounds clever to me. I'd do that. Those hotel quarantines are just ridiculous and a rip off to line the pockets of Tory contractors and donors. Anyone who skirts round this bollocks is spot on to me.

@megletthesecond

It's criminal. Everyone should be in an airport hotel for two weeks. No green or red list countries.

Not going to happen. Good.

If they quarantine in Turkey, then it's just cheaper hotel bills and a risk to them of getting stuck abroad while ill, plus additional quarantine here. The only issue was Turkey not forcing quarantine for their own citizens' safety, but they're doing that now. It's much less exciting than is being made.out.

@osbertthesyrianhamster

Sounds clever to me. I'd do that. Those hotel quarantines are just ridiculous and a rip off to line the pockets of Tory contractors and donors. Anyone who skirts round this bollocks is spot on to me.

Same. I want to know why the cost of the quarantine hotel here is so ridiculously expensive which is the real scandal. No doubt someone in the cabinet is lining their pockets with this deal.

Yes its happening all the time. There are lots of people travelling from South Africa to the UK, but going via Kenya first.

@MRex

If they quarantine in Turkey, then it's just cheaper hotel bills and a risk to them of getting stuck abroad while ill, plus additional quarantine here. The only issue was Turkey not forcing quarantine for their own citizens' safety, but they're doing that now. It's much less exciting than is being made.out.

The food is probably better, too. The quarantine hotels here are a total swizz, unsurprisingly, given the venal government we have. I'd consider it an extra holiday in Turkey. I love Turkey. It's a fab place to visit.

@isthismylifenow

Yes its happening all the time. There are lots of people travelling from South Africa to the UK, but going via Kenya first.

No they aren't. Kenya is on the red list too.

Agree that the quarantine in the UK is just ridiculously expensive.