The airline industry's eagerness to restart foreign travel brings a risk of importing new variants of Covid-19 into the UK, two virologists said in a British Medical Journal article.
Ministers unveiled a traffic-light system for overseas travel from England on Friday, with the ban on foreign holidays due to be lifted on Monday.
The travel industry is calling for the green list of approved travel destinations to be expanded as it seeks to recover from the disastrous economic effects of the pandemic.
But virologists Prof Jangu Banatvala and Prof Deenan Pillay urged caution over the plans and warned that the enthusiasm for travel needs to be checked because it “flies in the face” of the need to control the virus.
Until vaccinations are complete, it would be “remiss to abandon all attempts to limit new variants being imported into the UK", they said.
Under the traffic-light system, people travelling to England from red-list countries – including those with links to Covid-19 variants such as Brazil, India and South Africa – will have to enter quarantine in government-approved hotels.
Travellers returning from countries on the amber list, which covers most of the world, must be isolated for 10 days at home and take Covid-19 tests on the second and eighth days.
Only the handful of countries on the green list, such as Portugal, can be visited without facing quarantine on returning to England.
The two scientists said the “entire door-to-door travel process” must be evaluated to reduce the risk of virus spread through air travel.
They warned of the danger of new variants arising in countries with high infection rates, in addition to the mutations that already exist.
Travel industry seeks quicker end to restrictions
The airline industry, in contrast, is calling for faster progress in lifting travel restrictions.
London’s Heathrow Airport said on Tuesday that the list was overly cautious and should be expanded to include the US.
“The government’s green list is very welcome but they need to expand it massively in the next few weeks,” Heathrow boss John Holland-Kaye said.
The British Airline Pilots' Association, a trade union, said after the government announcement on Friday that Britain’s successful vaccine programme “should have meant a much longer green list”.
“This excess of caution from the government is extremely disappointing for everyone who works in the travel sector and the millions of people who are desperate to jet away on holiday or business,” general secretary Brian Strutton said.
UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps acknowledged that the green list was modest but said he expected it to grow over time.
The green, amber and red lists will be updated every three weeks, Mr Shapps said.
The report authors acknowledged the success of Britain’s vaccination programme, which has given at least one dose to nearly 36 million people.
But they warned that “mathematical modelling scenarios predict potential for a further UK surge of infections later this year”.
Prof Banatvala, at King’s College London, and Prof Pillay, of University College London, said that climate change should also curtail the airline industry’s enthusiasm.
“We must consider the urgent and serious global public health threat of climate change,” they said.
“We should reduce the amount of air travel not only because of Covid-19, but also because of the detrimental impact that this has on our climate.”
More on travel
Travel must not be ‘mothballed’: WHO backs England’s traffic light system
Scotland signs up to traffic light system to allow quarantine-free travel
Hotel quarantine: What do you need to do if travelling from a red list country?
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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TOUR RESULTS AND FIXTURES
June 3: NZ Provincial Barbarians 7 Lions 13
June 7: Blues 22 Lions 16
June 10: Crusaders 3 Lions 12
June 13: Highlanders 23 Lions 22
June 17: Maori All Blacks 10 Lions 32
June 20: Chiefs 6 Lions 34
June 24: New Zealand 30 Lions 15 (First Test)
June 27: Hurricanes 31 Lions 31
July 1: New Zealand 21 Lions 24 (Second Test)
July 8: New Zealand v Lions (Third Test) - kick-off 11.30am (UAE)
What is graphene?
Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb.
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were "playing about" with sticky tape and graphite - the material used as "lead" in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But as they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment had led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
At the time, many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. But examined under a microscope, the material remained stable, and when tested was found to have incredible properties.
It is many times times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible. It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent. The world's first 2D material, it is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.
But the 'sticky tape' method would not work on an industrial scale. Since then, scientists have been working on manufacturing graphene, to make use of its incredible properties.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Their discovery meant physicists could study a new class of two-dimensional materials with unique properties.
MATCH INFO
Tottenham Hotspur 3 (Son 1', Kane 8' & 16') West Ham United 3 (Balbuena 82', Sanchez og 85', Lanzini 90' 4)
Man of the match Harry Kane
Teams
Punjabi Legends Owners: Inzamam-ul-Haq and Intizar-ul-Haq; Key player: Misbah-ul-Haq
Pakhtoons Owners: Habib Khan and Tajuddin Khan; Key player: Shahid Afridi
Maratha Arabians Owners: Sohail Khan, Ali Tumbi, Parvez Khan; Key player: Virender Sehwag
Bangla Tigers Owners: Shirajuddin Alam, Yasin Choudhary, Neelesh Bhatnager, Anis and Rizwan Sajan; Key player: TBC
Colombo Lions Owners: Sri Lanka Cricket; Key player: TBC
Kerala Kings Owners: Hussain Adam Ali and Shafi Ul Mulk; Key player: Eoin Morgan
Venue Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Format 10 overs per side, matches last for 90 minutes
Timeline October 25: Around 120 players to be entered into a draft, to be held in Dubai; December 21: Matches start; December 24: Finals
What is graphene?
Graphene is extracted from graphite and is made up of pure carbon.
It is 200 times more resistant than steel and five times lighter than aluminum.
It conducts electricity better than any other material at room temperature.
It is thought that graphene could boost the useful life of batteries by 10 per cent.
Graphene can also detect cancer cells in the early stages of the disease.
The material was first discovered when Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov were 'playing' with graphite at the University of Manchester in 2004.
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GYAN’S ASIAN OUTPUT
2011-2015: Al Ain – 123 apps, 128 goals
2015-2017: Shanghai SIPG – 20 apps, 7 goals
2016-2017: Al Ahli (loan) – 25 apps, 11 goals
