Boris Dithered Over South African Variant

[Sunk]

// SAGE experts warned the government to close borders to stop the spread of the South African variant of coronavirus weeks ago, it emerged tonight, only for Boris Johnson to ignore their recommendations.

According to the Times, the experts told the government that Britain's borders must be fully closed to stop the variant spreading.

It is believed that that Home Secretary Priti Patel and Health Secretary Matt Hancock both argued for the closure of the borders last week, only to be overruled by the PM who opted against a total border lockdown. //

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9212683/SAGE-warned-No10-close-borders-WEEKS-ago-South-Africa-variant-PM-ignored-them.html

Now it has been found in Ealing, Tottenham, Mitcham, Broxbourne, Maidstone, Woking, Southport, and Walsall. And Boris has responded with another U-turn.

[teacake44]

We all know the details, sunk, what your missing is that Hancock just needs to be seen to be doing something, his words of clamping down hard on this SA variant is nothing more than trying to keep the public on side, and more so award himself a feather in his cap, to be seen to doing the right thing. He's twelve months to late.

[THECORBYLOON]

"The testing in those post codes is nothing more than a PR stunt, other than that a waste of time."

How is it a waste of time?

[teacake44]

^^ Read NJ post.

[Zacs-Master]

'How is it a waste of time?'
Because it's just like those stupid DNA tests to find out where your ancestors lived. They are misleading as you're only looking at part of the information.

[Togo]

When the S.African flights were cancelled, in response to the strain identified there, the Airline arranged for passengers who had been there on holiday to fly to Dubai, and from there into the UK, to avoid the checks and quarantines. The passengers then travelled across London and the S.E., sometimes using public transport, and went about their daily business. At least two of these "passengers" were carrying the virus and have possibly infected hundreds. I would shoot the bstards.

[Zacs-Master]

They shouldn't have been allowed to enter.

[Sunk]

Togo,
Interesting. Do you have a link?

[Zacs-Master]

Togo's wording is virtually a transcript of someone on the Jeremy Vine Show on BBC R2.

[teacake44]

Can't see whats interesting, its pretty obvious that, that has been happening all over the world for the last twelve months. Nothing new I'm afraid.

[Apc2604]

It has just been announced on the news that the Kent variant has varied again. More worries. There will be many many variants. As for u-turns. Sick of the expression. When things change you have to change things.

[Togo]

Ref Apc's post.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/13921863/kent-covid-strain-mutates-south-african-variant-resist-vaccines/?utm_medium=browser_notifications&;utm_source=pushly

[New Judge]

I do wish this continued talk of halting the spread of the virus by "closing borders", shooting people, testing, isolating, and everything else would stop. A few things need to be remembered:

1. Viruses spread. Nothing on Earth will prevent that short of locking everybody away from everybody else and we all watch each other die of malnutrition.

2. Viruses mutate. It's what they do. Their evolution aims at changing into less deadly versions so that their hosts are not killed.

3. By the time a new variant is discovered in the UK it is already too late to do anything about it. Stable doors, horses and all that.

//I suspect closing the borders in early March 2020 would have been agreeable to most people, especially Brexiteers.//

No it wouldn't. At a risk of derailing the thread (so I'll be brief - a first for me) the idea of Brexit was not to seal the UK off from the rest of the world. Anybody believing that's what Leavers wanted wasn't following the story very well.

[TrevorThePug]

"When things change you have to change things."

When things change, you adapt.

Not enact a wholesale reversal of everything you dithered about and got wrong in the first place. That would be a

U turn.

[Apc2604]

Thanks for providing the link Togo.