A PASSENGER travelling from South Africa has revealed that she walked through Heathrow airport in 10 minutes with NO checks.
Sharon Feinstein, from Islington, North London, claims she went through the terminal with no questions asked, despite flying from Johannesburg – where the mutant Covid strain is rife.
The traveller landed in London Heathrow yesterday after visiting her mum in South Africa – but says she was just ushered through passport control.
Despite having documents to prove she had a negative test, there was no one to show it to, Ms Feinstein claims.
She told the Daily Express: “I could have had Covid, they don’t know where I am staying, they didn’t ask.
“As a country we’re messing up. Why can a third-world country get it right and we can’t?”
Ms Feinstein, a freelance journalist who is now self-isolating, added that she was “shocked” that it only took her 10 minutes to get through airport control.
She told Good Morning Britain today: “I was shocked. I fully expected to take around a hour.
“I had my negative Covid test, I had my passenger locator form, I had various other forms.
“We were all queuing up, then I was ushered towards the electronic booth.
“I was literally through there in 10 minutes. Nobody was there. I was looking around for someone to show my test to.”
Passengers arriving in the UK will have to take two Covid tests during their 10-day isolation – even if they’re allowed to quarantine at home, rather than at a hotel.
The rules, which will come into force on February 15, were revealed as the country toughens up its borders amid fears over vaccine-busting mutations of the virus.
People arriving from ‘red list’ countries will have to spend a week and a half isolating under guard in hotels.
But even those coming in from other locations that are not on the “red-list” will now be tested twice during their mandatory 10-day isolation at home.
Matt Hancock announced today that Brits will face fines of up to £10,000 if they escape their quarantine hotel or refuse to take the two mandatory Covid tests on arrival in the UK.
And people could be JAILED if they lie about where they have travelled from.
The entire process – including the two mandatory tests and a quarantine hotel room- will cost arrivals £1,750 each.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “Throughout the pandemic, the Government has put in place proportionate measures, informed by the advice of scientists, that have led to some of the toughest border regimes in the world.
“Enhancing our testing regime to cover all arrivals while they isolate will provide a further level of protection and enable us to better track any new cases which might be brought into the country, and give us even more opportunities to detect new variants.”
Passenger data shows around 205,000 are expected to enter the country from the 33 countries in the next week.
Meanwhile, Boris Johnson has refused to rule out making lockdown longer if the South African variant continues to spread.
The Prime Minister was speaking after a study found the Oxford vaccine offers minimal protection in preventing mild disease caused by the strain.
He yesterday vowed vaccines are “remain of massive benefit to our country” but failed to dismiss extending the current restrictions.
The PM said: “We’re very confident in all the vaccines that we’re using.
“I think it’s important for people to bear in mind that all of them, we think, are effective in delivering a high degree of protection against serious illness and death, which is the most important thing.”
And Jonathan Van Tam said yesterday that the South Africa variant is NOT more transmissible than Britain’s Kent strain and won’t overtake it here in the UK.
The top scientist reassured the nation that despite the variant taking over in South Africa, it wasn’t likely to do so in the UK.
He said that the South Africa variant was not more easily spread, adding: “It’s not going to over-run or overtake [the other virus] in the next few months.
“That is the most likely scenario,” he added.
“I don’t think that this is something we should be concerned about right at this point at this time.”
A total of 13 areas in the UK are currently rolling out mass door-to-door testing after various Covid variants were detected in certain postcodes.
The new Kent coronavirus variant has been found in Manchester – sparking a Covid doorstep testing blitz for another 10,000 Brits.
Thousands of extra tests will be rolled out in the region from Tuesday after two unconnected households were found to be infected with the E484K mutation, Manchester City Council said.
And Brits living in areas of Sefton, Merseyside, and parts of Bristol and South Gloucestershire will be able to get a test after cases of the South Africa variant was found.