Ebola screening at Heathrow airport blasted ‘a complete joke’ on first day as passengers arriving from Africa say checks are optional
First day of screening of travellers arriving at Heathrow from West Africa
But passengers say that they walked through unchecked or had to volunteer
Government said the screening is needed ‘to make our country safe’
Jeremy Hunt: ‘It’s a global health emergency possibly on scale of Aids’
Gatwick and Eurostar passengers will be screened later this week
Experts believe decision is a ‘political gesture’ and will fail to find Ebola
World Health Organisation said it threatens ‘very survival of societies’
By Martin Robinson
DailyMailUK
14 October 2014
Britain’s Ebola screening plans descended into chaos on its first day today after people flying to the UK from high risk countries revealed the checks are not compulsory.
Jeremy Hunt said last night airline passengers from West Africa must be checked for the symptoms of the deadly disease ‘to make our country safe’.
The Health Secretary also warned Britain should expect up to ten cases by Christmas as screening of passengers from Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, where 4,000 have died from Ebola, started at Heathrow.
But travellers at Terminal One this morning said the system is a ‘complete joke’ because they were either not checked at all, told it was optional or had to seek out medical staff themselves.
The Department of Health later confirmed that screening travellers at major entry points into UK is not mandatory unless they ‘show symptoms of the virus’.
Sorious Samura who flew in from Liberia this morning, said he had decided to volunteer to be screened and was not made to take the questionnaire and temperature check.
The Rest…HERE
