On the 29th of August, the British press announced that Portugal may be removed from the UK’s list of safe countries again.
SIC Notícias later confirmed that Faro Airport had been chaotic after the opening of the air corridor with the United Kingdom, as eager Brits flew to safe destinations. As such, the increased arrivals caused long queues at the airport, with the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) needing to reinforce its teams after the arrival of more than 800 people on eight flights caused chaos around the document control area.
However, according to media agency Lusa, the United Kingdom’s Secretary of State for Health, Matt Hancock said today he would not rule out the application of new restrictions on people travelling to and from the UK, in order to prevent a second wave of Covid-19, which, according to a government report, could kill a further 85,000 people.
The UK Secretary of State for Health estimates that a second wave of the new coronavirus may be “preventable,” but not be “easy” to control, and that in order to protect the country, extensive confinements or other nationwide supplementary measures would need to be imposed, especially, as the UK is about to enter ‘flu season.’
According to a report released by the BBC on Friday the 28th of August, Covid-19 could kill 85,000 people in the UK between July 2020 and March 2021. Although the data may be subject to “great uncertainty,” the document points out some restrictions may be reintroduced such as the ban on contact between people from different households, and that these measures would remain in force until March 2021.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
