14 2GM Thursday December 3 2020 | the times
News
Existing quarantine restrictions for air
passengers should be scrapped because
travellers have no significant impact on
the coronavirus transmission rate, the
European aviation watchdog believes.
Guidance published yesterday said
that compulsory quarantine periods
were “not recommended” at a time
when the virus was already prevalent in
countries throughout Europe. Travel-
lers should not be subjected to addi-
tional restrictions unless they had been
in known contact with a confirmed
case of Covid-19.
The guidelines from the European
Aviation Safety Agency and the Euro-
pean Centre for Disease Prevention
and Control acknowledged that wide-
spread quarantine and testing would be
necessary in the future when virus rates
Scrap curbs on passengers,
urges aviation watchdog
in a particular country were “close to
zero”. However, even then it suggested
that people travelling for less than three
days should be exempt.
Although the UK is not bound by the
guidance, it will put further pressure on
the government less than two weeks
before new quarantine rules are intro-
duced that allow travellers to take a
Covid-19 test five days after arriving in
England. Those with a negative result
from December 15 will be freed early
from quarantine, more than halving
the existing two-week isolation period.
Aviation industry leaders seized on
the EU guidance and called for quaran-
tine restrictions to be abandoned.
The government has suggested a
quarantine exemption for business
travellers and tourists in designated
tour groups. It could be introduced next
year, subject to a further assessment.Graeme Paton Transport Correspondent
When air travel starts returning to
normal, nervous passengers will have
something new to worry about: rusty
pilots.
The global grounding for much of
this year has kept so many of the world’s
290,000 airline pilots out of the flight-
deck that companies are struggling to
ensure their crew keep up flying skills
that fade even for veterans with
decades of experience.
“I find it odd that I am slowing down
a lot more than usual to think about the
procedures and flows before pushing
any buttons in the cockpit, just to make
sure it really is the correct one,” a pilotFears over pilots’ rusty flying skills after
Charles Bremner Paris with an undisclosed airline wrote in
Flight International. “I suppose this is
what lack of recency does to you.”
Leading companies such as Air
France-KLM and British Airways are
rotating grounded pilots through their
expensive Level D flight simulators to
ensure the minimum hours needed to
comply with the law and safety.
This requires a minimum of three
take-offs, approaches and landings
every three months plus six-monthly
flight proficiency checks. Privately,
some European air crew acknowledge
that they are losing the edge that comes
with regular flying and the usual
recurrent training.
In July, when international aviationwas briefly reviving, the European
Cockpit Association warned that the
lack of recent flying time caused by the
pandemic threatened to “develop into a
major safety risk and needs priority
attention”.
The pandemic has been cited as a
possible factor in an incident in which
pilots let an Airbus veer off the runway
at speed in Indonesia in September and
the crash of a Pakistan International
Airlines Airbus in Karachi that killed 97
in May.
Indonesian investigators reported
that the co-pilot of the Lion Air jet had
not flown in the previous 90 days when
it gouged up the runway at the city of
Medan. The captain had only flownStudents will be asked to stagger their
return to universities after Christmas
and some will not be back on campus
until February, ministers said last night.
Guidance from the Department for
Education will tell higher education
providers how to manage student re-
turns over a five-week period to reduce
the risk of spreading the coronavirus.
All students will be offered Covid-
tests when they return so they can self-
isolate if they are infected.
From January 4 to 18 medical stu-
dents and those on placements or prac-
tical courses with a need for in-person
teaching will return.
Other courses will be offered online
from the beginning of term so that
students can continue their studies
from home. They will be expected to
start returning gradually over a two-
week period from January 25. All
students should be back by February 7.
All universities will be offered testing
facilities to give students two lateral-
flow tests, three days apart. The
government said that results would be
provided within an hour to help control
the spread of the virus.
A one-off fund of up to £20 million
was announced to help students most
in need of support.
Michelle Donelan, the universities
minister, said: “This plan will enable a
safer return for all students but we must
do this in a way which minimises the
risk of transmission.
“I know students have had to make
sacrifices this year and have faced a
number of challenges but this stag-
gered return will help to protect stu-
dents, staff and communities.”
Matt Hancock, the health secretary,
said: “We must use every tool at our dis-
posal to stop the spread of the virus and
Students told
to stagger
their return
to university
help reduce the risks around students
travelling back home this Christmas.
“Using new technology and the
additional capacity we have built, we
are now able to extend our testing offer
to help manage this risk, by identifying
those showing no symptoms who can
infect people unknowingly and stop
them from passing the virus on to
others as they move around the
country.”
The government said that universi-
ties should consider prioritising those
without appropriate accommodation
or study space who might need to
return to campus early. The “travel
window” for students to go home opens
today.
A spokesman for Universities UK,
which represents vice-chancellors,
said: “While January will undoubtedly
be challenging for the country, a stag-
gered approach will allow enhanced
testing capacity to be maximised so that
Covid-safe, in-person teaching can
begin at the start of term for some
students and shortly after for others.
“The guidance also recognises the
importance of libraries and study spa-
ces being available for those who need
them. We welcome the government’s
commitment to continued asympto-
matic testing for university students in
the new year, following the successful
rollout of pilots across the country.”
Tim Bradshaw, chief executive of the
Russell Group of leading research uni-
versities, said that his members would
be working hard to implement the gov-
ernment plan and make students aware
of it. “Government has rightly said that
campus facilities... should remain open
for students who don’t have suitable
learning spaces at home,” Mr Bradshaw
said. “Universities will do everything
they can to ensure the best possible
learning experience for all students.”Nicola Woolcock Education Editor
News Coronavirus
france
A French-British duo have
completed their campaign to pick
up every discarded face covering on
their 550-mile trek from Paris to
Marseille. Edmund Platt, a British
environmental activist, and his
friend Frederic Munsch set off on
October 1 to follow the high-speed
TGV train line to Paris, aiming to
highlight pollution. “We ended up
with 6,300 masks,” Mr Platt said.
The pair camped or took up
invitations to stay in people’s homes
as they skewered mask after mask
on long sticks. They also picked up
fast-food containers, newspapers
and a licence plate. They are hosting
a “garbage-aperitif ” tomorrow — a
litter clean-up with drinks —
outside Paris City Hall.netherlands
The Netherlands could start
vaccinating against coronavirus by
January 4 amid worries that a
strong Dutch antivax movement
could deny the country herd
immunity. Vaccinations will begin
after the European Medicines
Agency authorises use of the
Biontech/Pfizer vaccine on
December 29. Hugo de Jonge, thePregnant woman with
virus dies after Turkish
hospitals ‘turn her away’
positive will take the exams in
hospitals or clinics and 400 under
quarantine. Other students must
wear masks and will be separated by
plastic screens. They have been told
to wear warm clothes so that
windows can be left open because
the temperature can fall below 0C.china
Beijing has ordered that all
imported frozen food must be tested
for coronavirus before going on sale.
China has repeatedly detected the
virus on packaging on products
from German pork knuckles to
Ecuadorian prawns. An outbreak in
Beijing earlier this year, which led to
millions of the city’s residents being
forced into lockdown, was tracked to
a food market, where inspectors
found coronavirus on salmon
products imported from Norway.turkey
Intensive care units in Istanbul are
full of patients said to be dying as
they try to obtain treatment,
including a pregnant woman.
Donus Kilinc, 32, who was
experiencing contractions, died on
November 3, after being sent away
from hospitals. She became
infected in the ninth month of her
pregnancy and was told that the
hospitals had reached their
capacity for treating virus patients.
Her husband is now suing. Turkey
recorded more than 30,000 new
cases yesterday.south korea
About 490,000 students will take
part in eight-hour exams
nationwide today to determine
places at the best universities. This
year 35 students who tested