Britain starts mandatory self-quarantine for arrivals

Britain introduced a two-week quarantine on Monday for most people arriving from abroad to try to limit the spread of the coronavirus, sparking condemnation from the ailing aviation sector, which claims it could cost tens of thousands of jobs.

British residents and overseas visitors will have to comply with the 14-day self-isolation rules or face a £1,000 ($1,250, 1,125-euro) fine or prosecution.

Critics question why Britain, which has been hardest hit by COVID-19 in Europe and is only gradually easing a lockdown, is inflicting more pain on hotels and airlines by reducing travel from countries with fewer virus cases.

British Airways and budget carriers EasyJet and Ryanair have launched joint legal proceedings against the government over what they called a "disproportionate and unfair" step.

Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary told Sky News television on Monday the plan was "useless" and unenforceable, and said it would "devastate thousands of jobs in British tourism".

The chief executive of London's Heathrow, John Holland-Kaye, told the City AM newspaper it could lead to the loss of potentially 25,000 jobs at his airport -- a third of staff.

But Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the new rules made sense because "the proportion of infections that come from abroad increases" as Britain's own caseload drops.

"We've got to take an approach that starts with caution," he told Sky News.

To enter Britain by plane, train, road or sea, travellers must provide details of their journey and the address where they will self-isolate.

How the quarantine will be implemented differs between Britain's devolved nations, and the measures will be assessed every three weeks.

Exemptions are being made in several cases -- including for lorry drivers, "essential" healthcare workers and people travelling from Ireland who have been there for at least two weeks.

- Travel corridor hopes -

At London's Heathrow Airport, where only two of the five terminals are operating due to reduced travel, the quarantine got a mixed reception.

"It's a good idea," said Sandy Banks, 45, returning to Britain with her three children from Jamaica via the United States. "Other countries are doing it."

But a 52-year-old Dutch lawyer living in London, who wished to remain anonymous, called it a "political thing".

"I just think it's a bonkers idea. More people are ill and dying in the UK; probably Europe should be protected from us."

Britain's official death toll is 40,542 -- second only to the United States.

Home Secretary Priti Patel told sceptical lawmakers in parliament last week the measure was "backed by the science, supported by the public, and essential to save lives".

But main opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer called it a "blunt instrument".

"Weeks ago other countries put quarantine in and we didn't, now as everybody's lifting it we are putting it in," he told LBC radio, adding he would prefer testing within airports.

As part of the gradual easing of lockdown restrictions, non-essential retail outlets will reopen from June 15. Restaurants and bars will follow with a limited service in early July.

But the devastated hospitality sector relies heavily on tourists, and business leaders fear the quarantine will mean much of the summer season will be lost.

It comes after heavily-hit Italy reopened its borders last week and other European states follow suit.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government is trying to arrange "travel corridors" with countries such as France and Spain that could see them lift their quarantine demands.

But officials are reportedly giving themselves until late June to strike these deals -- and the airlines behind the lawsuit say they cannot wait that long.

"These measures are disproportionate and unfair on British citizens as well as international visitors arriving in the UK," the airlines said in a joint statement.

The quarantine "will have a devastating effect on (the) UK's tourism industry and will destroy thousands of jobs in this unprecedented crisis", they said.

Agence France-Presse

Police thy neighbor: Virus fears fuel quarantine shaming

Some complain about joggers panting on passers-by. Others wonder what to do when they overhear drunken partygoers rejecting quarantine measures. Still more question whether people they see in the street are really on "essential" business.

Local social media networks, long places for recipe swaps and restaurant tips, are rapidly becoming sites where neighbors police neighbors during the global coronavirus pandemic.

And as users test the line between civic duty and intrusive surveillance -- often trying to shame their peers into obeying social distancing rules -- experts worry that a practice once frowned upon is becoming normalized.

"It distresses me greatly to see a few uncaring louts who scoff at the safety rules that are meant for all of us to get through this awful situation," said one user on a listserv for a wealthy suburb of the capital Washington, which has seen a slew of complaints about people ignoring distancing guidelines.

"I have a suggestion - if you see such behaviors as mentioned above - why not take photos/videos of the offenders? This could discourage their dangerous behaviors," said another.

Online shaming is nothing new -- and neither is neighbors keeping tabs on one another -- but never in history have so many people had such a high stake in enforcing social rules, or such a fast and accessible platform on which to do so.


"There is a sense that if you do it you can save lives... With COVID-19, we're scared and there is an urgency to enforce the social distancing rules. Shaming is really one of the only tools we have," says Dr Emily Laidlaw, an associate professor at the University of Calgary who studies privacy law and online shaming.

Examples are rife on platforms such as Nextdoor, a hyperlocal social media network which demands users post under their real names and verify their locations.

"My neighbors are all drunk and having a party next door. One of them went on a loud tirade near my door that another month of quarantine is stupid and that he wasn't going to do it," posted one frustrated resident of a middle class west Los Angeles neighborhood recently.

"You need to report them when it's happening because that just means another month for us to be indoors," another user replied.

Public shaming is against community guidelines and comments deemed as falling into the category will be removed, according to the app.

It also touts the Kindness Reminder, a feature announced last year to keep conversations respectful, and which has been modified in recent weeks with language specific to COVID-19.

Wicca Davidson, who runs a listserv for a municipality in Maryland, says that since the pandemic began she has seen an uptick in complaints about behavior.

"We don't want to give a few people the ability to derail the use of the listserv," she told AFP.

- 'Please stop being so judgemental' -

"There's definitely social shaming. That's part of what's working to stay home," 31-year-old Divya Sonti, an employee of IQ Solutions, which specializes in public health communications and health information technology, told AFP.


Privacy expert Laidlaw also believes such policing can be effective.

But "there is a cost that should be acknowledged -- casualties who are taken down by this unfairly, and the normalization of neighborhood surveillance," she said.

One member of the Washington suburb listserv echoed her fears.

"I sympathize with the concern but becoming a police-state type of community isn't healthy," the user wrote.

"This is not ok to take picture of people and post them," another person wrote on a Nextdoor group in Los Angeles, after a user posted photographs of people they felt were walking too closely together. "What is next? Train to Dachau?"

Laidlaw said policing and shaming were already on their way to being normalized online before the pandemic, noting that "shaming sites are not new, nor are neighborhood watch/surveillance sites".

But until now, she says, there was also strong condemnation of public shaming.

"I worry when the dust has settled, what was once contentious will be the new normal."

That is problematic because of the lack of context online, and the speed at which such condemnation can spread.

For example, in Brooklyn, one neighbor complained on Nextdoor about seeing a group of people in the street -- a group which another user said was likely from a local substance abuse meeting.

The sentiment is also echoed in one of the many viral Facebook posts calling for compassion at a time when so many are already struggling to cope.

"Do you ever think maybe that guy buying a gallon of paint knows he must keep busy because idle hands in the past has caused him to relapse and pick up that case of beer?" it reads.

"I know we are all on edge but please stop being so judgemental of others."

Agence France-Presse