Ebola screening still in chaos: We’ve been told nothing, say airport chiefs after days of government indecision
Downing Street orders screening at Heathrow and Gatwick and on Eurostar
But passengers will only be asked a basic questionnaire about their health
Gatwick admits they’ve ‘had nothing at all’ about how to screen passengers
Eurostar also says its staff does not know how the process will work
In United States border staff are carrying out temperature screening
Briton who died in Skopje, Macedonia, may have contracted Ebola
The epidemic has killed 3,800 and infected at least 8,000 so far
By Vanessa Allen, Eleanor Harding And Emily Kent Smith
DailyMailUK
11 October 2014
Britain’s Ebola screening plans remained in chaos yesterday as airports said they had been given no instructions.
After days of Government indecision over whether to screen airline passengers to halt the spread of the deadly virus, Downing Street was yesterday still unable to say when the process would start or where it would find the medics to oversee it.
With the incubation period for the disease as long as 21 days, it was feared the delay in introducing measures could mean the deadly virus is already in the UK.
While the US said it would begin screening with temperature checks today, a Downing Street spokesman would only say that Britain’s programme – consisting mainly of questionnaires – would start ‘as soon as possible in the coming days’.
Last night airports, airlines and Eurostar all said they were still waiting for instructions. Gatwick said it knew nothing about the new measures, with an airport spokesman adding: ‘We’ve not had anything at all. We’re still waiting for Public Health England.’
Public Health England, the Government body which had previously said screening would not be effective, is now in charge of the programme but said it had no more details of how it would work.
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