We think we have it bad

rob_fmttm

rob_fmttm

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If you are travelling to Hong Kong now, you face 14 days quarantine in your hotel room after exiting the flight. You will have had a COVID test before and after the flight also.
 
Yes, they wear a wrist band there. It is a real ordeal. My brother is doing it tomorrow to get back home.
It is house arrest really in a small hotel room. But they would say the price is acceptable to travel back into a city state experiencing a 4th wave - but still with less cases in total than we had deaths today.
 
We’ve been doing similar going to Egypt, although it’s relaxed quite a bit now with the company controls in place and the agreement of the Egyptian ministry of health.
started as a week isolation in a heathrow hotel where we were tested, then 2 weeks isolation in cairo. On arrival they done a fast antibody check, and a pcr after 2 weeks. Amazing that on arrival back to the uk we were free to just enter.
 
I think the UK's lax policy on people arriving from overseas is one of the main contributory factors to the high number of coronavirus cases (which inevitably lead to increased hospitalizations and deaths).

Not only Hong Kong and Egypt have mandatory quarantine for all overseas arrivals, so do many others - New Zealand, Australia, South Korea, Thailand etc, etc.

Many of those countries have the lowest rates of CoVid-19 in the world. There may be other factors that play into it but one is undoubtedly that the procedures they use, prevent travellers from spreading new cases into the local community.

In the UK, all we ask of overseas arrivals is to voluntarily self-isolate if they start to experience symptoms (as we ask everyone to do). Surveys have shown that only around 50% of people follow that recommendation.

Also, as we know, people can spread the virus when they're asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic, so even self-isolation, when based on experiencing symptoms, is always going to be less than optimally effective.
 
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My son returned to Wuhan in August.

His comments:

1. Flying Ural Airlines (including a refueling stop in the back end of Russia) was interesting.
2. Being in a hotel room for 2 weeks was like being a teenager again. Honed up his football manager games - but he did have to work.
3. The noodles were great - but odd being delivered by a guy in a hazmed suit.

.... he was basically unphased by it; and thought it worth it to get back to work etc.

I myself will return to the UK in Dec after 5 weeks in Turkey. 14 days quarantine (which I will observe) irrespective of symptomology if I understand correctly.
 
I recently completed a 2 week quarantine in Shanghai. Not the most fun I've ever had, but the positive thing is now I'm out, relative normality has returned. Everyone, Chinese or foreign, must do 2 weeks in a hotel at their own expense. After that basic daily life continues. Everyone needs to show a code to get on subway and other big buildings (shopping centres etc). No code, no entry. I have been tested 6 times in the first 4 weeks I was back. I find it absolutely baffling that the uk have been so relaxed on air travel. Before I flew back I read the BA piloted temperature checks, but the pilot scheme finished in September.
 
Yes have to quarantine for 2 weeks here when you arrive. Only NZ citizens, permanent residents or those with special Visa s are allowed to enter(overseas workers who help with harvests etc). They are tested on day 3 and day 11 of their stay if they test positive then they are relocated to another hotel for positive cases, and they stay there until they test negative and do a period of quarantine
If you are coming back to NZ permanently then the quarantine is free. If you are coming back to see family etc for Christmas then you pay $3500.
Also, finally, you must have a place in quarantine, booked by yourself online, before you can board your flight.
Pretty draconian but it seems to be working until we can get a vaccine going.
 
Liamo said:
In the UK, all we ask of overseas arrivals is to voluntarily self-isolate if they start to experience symptoms (as we ask everyone to do). Surveys have shown that only around 50% of people follow that recommendation.
Click to expand...

That's just false on all points
 
TommyPlus said:
That's just false on all points
Click to expand...
OK, the 50% figure may be a little off. It was the figure I recalled from what I thought was a recent article. When I check, the latest figure I find is a shockingly low 18% - but this only serves to make my point even more valid. See link below.

Low adherence to self isolation

The statement about voluntary self-isolation rather than mandatory quarantine is correct - here's what it says on the UK government website:
You need to self-isolate in the place you’re staying for the first 14 days after you arrive, unless you’ve only visited an exempt country, territory or region.
Click to expand...

Self-isolating when you arrive
 
Liamo said:
OK, the 50% figure may be a little off. It was the figure I recalled from what I thought was a recent article. When I check, the latest figure I find is a shockingly low 18% - but this only serves to make my point even more valid. See link below.

Low adherence to self isolation

The statement about voluntary self-isolation rather than mandatory quarantine is correct - here's what it says on the UK government website:


Self-isolating when you arrive
Click to expand...
Perhaps he was referring to your reference to symptoms as you need to self isolate from many countries even without symptoms.
 
bear66 said:
Perhaps he was referring to your reference to symptoms as you need to self isolate from many countries even without symptoms.
Click to expand...
Indeed. You need to fill in a form prior to arrival detailing your place of quarantine and several modes of contact.
 
A family member who works for the MoD went to Oman at the start of November, once he arrived, he had 2 weeks self isolating in a pokey hotel room before we was allowed onto site. He comes back 11th December and then has to self isolate again for 14 days, so, he is stuck until 24th December before he can start a semblance of normality.
 
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TommyPlus said:
Indeed. You need to fill in a form prior to arrival detailing your place of quarantine and several modes of contact.
Click to expand...
I think the overall point still stands, that the measures the UK has used and is using, that are supposedly aimed at restricting the amount of community transmission caused by people arriving from overseas are relatively lax and ineffective, especially when compared to those used by many of the countries with the lowest levels of Covid-19.

In addition, this was even truer in the past, than it is is now, and in my opinion the lack of effective measures related to overseas arrivals in the early days of the pandemic contributed massively to the way the virus was able to gain such a stranglehold on the country - a hold which it has never relinquished since.

The classic example of this was the decision to allow over 3,000 Atletico Madrid fans, travelling from what was at the time, one of the continent’s worst virus hotspots, to attend their team's match at Anfield in March.

Even after that, there were basically no measures imposed on people arriving from overseas until June 8 this year - by which time it was way too late, as far as I'm concerned.
 
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