Posters aimed at raising awareness of Ebola are to be put up at larger British airports, according to internal advice sent out to all UK Border Force staff following the government’s U-turn on screening for the disease on entry to the country .
With just over a week to go before the first direct flight to the UK from West Africa for two months, the posters referred to in the Border Force memo – which the Guardian has seen – were among the few concrete details to emerge about the government’s strategy, amid claims from some experts that screening is a waste of time.
A message marked “sensitive” sent out to staff by Marc Owen, the Border Force’s acting chief operating officer, said that the large outbreak of Ebola in west Africa was “understandably” causing staff some concern regarding the risk from infected passengers, but reassured them that the threat as currently assessed by health authorities was “very low”.
He said the government planned to put up awareness posters at larger UK airports and ports to raise awareness of the disease among passengers arriving into the UK. The posters will advise them what symptoms they should look out for and what to do should they develop these symptoms.
The message was accompanied by a Q&A, with questions such as “What should I do if someone collapses in front of me at control?” and “Should I use latex gloves?” The answers were that it was highly unlikely someone ill enough to collapse would have been travelling in the first place, and that alcohol hand gel was more effective than latex gloves.
The prime minister yesterday defended the decision to introduce enhanced screening for Ebola at Heathrow and Gatwick, and at Eurostar terminals. “What we do is listen to the medical advice and we act on that advice, and that’s why we are introducing the screening processes at the appropriate ports and airports,” David Cameron said. According to Downing Street, which was yet to issue further details last night, the screening will involve assessing passengers’ recent travel history, contacts and onward travel arrangements, as well as a possible medical assessment conducted by trained medical personnel.
Most travellers at airports are not expected to encounter the measures as they are intended to target arrivals from Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, the countries at the centre of the Ebola outbreak, which has killed more than 4,000 people since December.
Nevertheless, Labour MP Keith Vaz said a lack of precise information available about screening was “shambolic” following confusion over whether the government would introduce the measures at all.
David Mabey, professor of communicable diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, called the screening a “complete waste of time”. “Are they going to screen everyone from Brussels, Paris, Frankfurt and Amsterdam? That would lead to a lot of delays and disruption. Secondly, why would anyone admit that they have been in contact with someone when they’re in a hurry to get through immigration control when they arrive at the airport?”
There was also criticism from the World Health Organisation’s director of strategy, Chris Dye, who said it was unlikely the scheme would detect anyone with Ebola. “The chances of someone with Ebola turning up in the UK is relatively small,” he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.
Professor George Griffin, chair of the government’s advisory committee on dangerous pathogens, described the planned tests as “a very, very blunt instrument” and added that he was surprised that screening was being introduced after being led to believe it would not be.
Staff working at airports are meanwhile divided about the plans. While the Immigration Services Union, which representing 5,000 border staff, has been sharply critical of the announcement, others have been quietly supportive of the government’s plans.
Sian Griffiths, former president of the UK Faculty of Public Health, said screening was “not the solution but it’s is part of the panoply of tools you need to work with”. She worked on the Sars outbreak in Asia more than 10 years ago and said effective screening would raise general awareness about infectious diseases. In 2002 and 2003 all airlines in the Sars-affected countries issued forms to airlines obliging passengers to say who they had been in touch with in the event of a positive test post arrival.
Passengers were also required to walk through heat sensitive camera gates which checked temperatures. “It involved millions of passengers. Everybody was screened. Even if you crossed the bridge from Hong Kong to China you have to fill in a form. It is a big effort, but people’s reaction to infectious disease is all about judgment and risk, “ she said, recalling how Asians are now more naturally open to precautions such as constant washing of hands as a result of Sars.
