Zoo Zoo Boom wrote:
The US closed their borders and the infection rate was amongst the worst in the world. It wouldn't have been practical given the UK is the largest transit hub in Europe. Easy in NZ or Aus.
I agree with much of what you put the vaccine is the game changer - In Israel where a big chunk of people have been vaccinated transmission has fallen off the end of a cliff - which would suggest transmission is slowed down amongst those who have been vaccinated.
Assuming that Boris is right and we are "fully open" in the UK towards the end of June, it will be interesting to see how overseas travel can open up.
The French were citing "the English variant" for a recent spike in their own cases, which doesn't half put the cat among the pigeons as far as overseas travel is concerned.
It's starting to look like vaccine certificates will be here before too long, to add yet another twist to the road to "freedom"
Just getting back to your opening comment. It shouldn't matter what sort of "transit hub" the UK may or may not be.
We should have tightened our border controls way, way more than we did.
There is no point whatsoever in trying to control the virus within the country, if we are going to allow people to fly in and out as the please, it's utterly stupid and it's taken nearly 12 months for government to even begin to realise this.
Of course this would make life more difficult for some but, it's difficult for most people already.