Source · Select Committees · Home Affairs Committee
Recommendation 17
17
Paragraph: 99
The Home Office—and other departments of Government if necessary—must either publish or provide to the...
Conclusion
The Home Office—and other departments of Government if necessary—must either publish or provide to the Committee immediately a full account of the scientific evidence and advice leading to its decision to withdraw guidance for international arrivals on 13 March. If this does not exist in written form, the Committee should receive a full account of what considerations were made and a summary of orally tendered advice, including the dates on which it was provided.
Paragraph Reference:
99
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
The Government is grateful for the committee’s report. However, the Home Affairs Select Committee are incorrect in their assertions. Isolation guidance was not dropped on 13 March, it was superseded by the national stay at home guidance. As has been explained repeatedly to the committee this meant that anyone entering the country regardless of where they had travelled from, like the rest of the population, was required to self-isolate if they developed symptoms. All of our decisions throughout the pandemic have been informed by the science, with appropriate measures introduced at the right time to keep us all safe. The advice given by SAGE has always been based on the best evidence and data available at the time, and is a consensus arrived at by a group of leading scientists. The Government has consistently sought to make decisions taking into account the latest available scientific evidence and advice. the health system. This was applied to those returning from Wuhan on 22 January and broadened to the whole of China on 25 January; Japan on 8 February, Iran on 25 February, northern Italy on 4 March and the whole of Italy on 5 March. On 12 March the Prime Minister announced the move from the contain to delay phase as there was sustained community transmission and a significant number of domestic cases 2 Home Office preparedness for COVID-19 (coronavirus): management of the borders: present in the UK. National stay at home guidance was published on 12 March advising anyone with a new continuous cough or a fever to self-isolate for seven days and applied to everyone in the UK–including new arrivals. The scientific advice has been clear that when domestic transmission is high, cases imported from abroad represent a small proportion of the overall total and make no significant difference to the spread of the disease. On 12 March there was significant transmission within the UK and any additional border restrictions would have a very marginal impact on the epidemic within the UK, as at that point they contributed a tiny proportion of the number of new infections. Keeping the borders open maintained international connections for businesses, laying the foundations for our economic recovery, and provided a vital lifeline to those with a critical need to travel. This included British nationals who required repatriation from overseas and who made up a significant percentage of the total number of arriving passengers. Further, it is important to recognise that inbound UK travel (as with all travel across the world) was significantly reduced to unprecedentedly low levels in terms of passenger numbers.