Angela Merkel launches bid to ban all British travelers from the EU due to Delta variants

[Honey12346]

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/angela-merkel-launches-bid-to-ban-all-british-travellers-from-the-eu-cn95bjfpk

@notimagain

It was a shame yesterday’s thread got scrubbed…it was just gettin* interesting.

Like others I find it hard to get my head around the idea that Madame Merkel’s proposals are in someway unreasonable when you consider the current restrictions the UK has in place for anybody arriving from an Amber list country.

I think restrictions are perfectly reasonable, but I think she should be explaining them as due to high volume of cases and/ or actual imported cases and/ or reciprocal measures. Identifying the issue as Delta variant is a red herring given that's already the leading variant and risks identifying EU growth as the "fault" of Spain / Greece for doing things differently, which doesn't look fair.

Chocolate
Who did you use for tests please and how much? Considering this weekend myself 🤞

@Kendodd

Except I guess it was more important family matters necessitating travel to India.

Bollocks are they important.
That's why we're in this mess (the whole world not just the UK) people thinking they're so special and important they have to travel across the globe.

How dare people think family is important!11!!!

Now it would be terrible if you didn't see your mum again, genuinely, I mean that. But not nearly as terrible as someone dying from covid because (possibly your mum or other relatives) because people decided visiting family was more important. You may disagree though and think visiting family regularly is more important that anything else, even spreading covid

Now do flu.

I'm in Italy and a lot of people do those quick tests with a swab that you can do in a pharmacy? Not sure what they're called in English or whether they count in the statistics? If you have a confirmed risk you have to do the lab-based one.

@Naggety

I'm in Italy and a lot of people do those quick tests with a swab that you can do in a pharmacy? Not sure what they're called in English or whether they count in the statistics? If you have a confirmed risk you have to do the lab-based one.

Testo rapido is Lateral Flow. Unreliable and increasingly not accepted, especially for travel purposes etc. Sierologico is PCR. That's what you need for travel.

@EasterIssland I feel extremely lucky to live in Iceland, which seems to be a rare example in all this of actually recognising that family is essential much beyond attending their funerals. Any restrictions on international travel have always included an exemption not just for 'essential business' but also for relatives of Icelandic citizens/residents. Of course that didn't help when the UK locked them in, but it was actually still some comfort to know that the Icelandic government had considered that as important as making money. It made me feel that we still had our humanity.

Merkel is being ridiculous in my opinion, considering there is obviously plenty of 'Delta variant' on the European mainland already.

@Watapalava we used Randox for day 2 return tests, they arrived the next working day. £43 with an airline code, most have them. We will arrange return tests while we're there.

Have a lovely time if you decide to go!

The UK reliance on AZ and its lower effectiveness on delta is also a factor. Most european countries are much more reliant on mRNA vaccines which provide better protection against delta.

So what is the effectiveness of the different vaccines then?

@Pootle40

Isn't it that the UK looks worse right now because of the extremely high testing we do? So my challenge would be - are we in fact different to other similar EU countries? Probably not.

The UK is worse just now.

BUT we do do more testing and we do have more of a clue about what is going on which is a good things.

We are further ahead in this wave but nowhere is safe and the EU will be in a similar position soon. Hopefully they will have enough people vaccinated to reduce deaths / hospitalizations.

Fab thanks you too!☀️☀️

Did you use them for pre arrival tests or are you just vaccinated adults?

Sierologico is PCR. That's what you need for travel
I don't think that's right. Sierologico is an antibody test and identifies whether you have had covid, not whether you currently have it.

Like others I find it hard to get my head around the idea that Madame Merkel’sproposalsare in someway unreasonable when you consider the current restrictions the UK has in place for anybody arriving from an Amber list country.

They're not really. But it is easier for her to say it. She is not as impacted by UK tourism.

I would support an EU wide ban though as I don't think its really the time to be travelling- and that included inter EU travel too, which I think is madness.

The title seems a bit rabble rousing. She's just trying to keep people safe

@MRex

I think restrictions are perfectly reasonable, but I think she should be explaining them as due to high volume of cases and/ or actual imported cases and/ or reciprocal measures. Identifying the issue as Delta variant is a red herring given that's already the leading variant and risks identifying EU growth as the "fault" of Spain / Greece for doing things differently, which doesn't look fair.

Fair point…I think the issue I have with a few posters is the idea Madame Markell is being uniquely awkward or unusually defensive when it comes border control.

Certainly right now if somebody living in certain EU countries wants to visit the UK (e.g. to see relatives) the big, big problem is the UKs Amber list restrictions, not the requirements on return to the EU.

[quote PuffinShop]@EasterIssland I feel extremely lucky to live in Iceland, which seems to be a rare example in all this of actually recognising that family is essential much beyond attending their funerals. Any restrictions on international travel have always included an exemption not just for 'essential business' but also for relatives of Icelandic citizens/residents. Of course that didn't help when the UK locked them in, but it was actually still some comfort to know that the Icelandic government had considered that as important as making money. It made me feel that we still had our humanity.

Merkel is being ridiculous in my opinion, considering there is obviously plenty of 'Delta variant' on the European mainland already.[/quote]
@PuffinShop I now remember you from another thread. I’m flying to Iceland at the end of august … so know all about it and how amazing this country is and how amazing this country has done to battle against the pandemic.

But will EU wide travel ban include the thousands of football fans currently shuttling across Europe?

Like others I find it hard to get my head around the idea that Madame Merkel’sproposalsare in someway unreasonable when you consider the current restrictions the UK has in place for anybody arriving from an Amber list country.

Germany insist on a negative test and then 14 days compulsory quarantine with no test to release. This also applies to fully vaccinated travellers. So it is very different from the UK rules.

They do not test the people they quarantine at any stage. So they are not attempting to develop an evidence base to say whether any of those people have been infected with the delta variant. So it basically amounts to 14 days house arrest for the crime of having travelled to UK.

It does not apply to the 1000s of „VIPs“ travelling with the Euro 2020 circus.

‘Certainly right now if somebody living in certain EU countries wants to visit the UK (e.g. to see relatives) the big, big problem is the UKs Amber list restrictions, not the requirements on return to the EU.’

Not true. It will be harder for me to go to Germany than to come back. And the same goes for some other countries - Netherlands, Belgium, Austria and Switzerland, for a start.

@PuffinShop now I want to move to Iceland!

@Schulte

According to German authorities’ estimates, about half of all new Covid cases there are already the delta variant. By next week, it will be the dominant strain in Germany. So Merkel is too late.

I’m not surprised

Bit late

Why do people keep on referring to her as Madame Merkel - have I missed something?

@Naggety

Why do people keep on referring to her as Madame Merkel - have I missed something?

Foreign languages not a big thing in the UK?

We are double jabbed @Watapalava but they do the pre-travel tests too. Not sure how quickly they turn round the results as it doesn't really matter to us for the day 2 tests. I think a lot of airports are offering a rapid service (for a price).

Hardly any Brits want to go on holiday to Germany and so Merkel can object to British travel without it impacting on her country's travel industry. That's not true for Spain and Greece etc. But it's up to them if they are happy to be ruled from Germany - not our circus! We will just have to go on holiday later or to other places. Tbh, I think we should all minimise travel this year and wait it out and just have people travelling if they need to see dying parents or something equally important.
But, it's massively hypocritical of Merkel to object to travel unless she did full quarantine upon return to Germany. If she did, then fair enough.

@Naggety

Sierologico is PCR. That's what you need for travel I don't think that's right. Sierologico is an antibody test and identifies whether you have had covid, not whether you currently have it.

Sorry, you're right. It's the molecolare that is the PCR.