UKs Heathrow Airport Opens Terminal for High Risk Travelers
Heathrow Airport has opened a dedicated terminal for travelers from high risk countries. Its basically a quarantine processing zone before they enter the UK properly.
The terminal keeps travelers from red list countries separate from everyone else. Different arrival hall different processing different everything. The virus cant spread if people dont mix. Thats the theory anyway.
BBC reported on the new facility and how it operates.
The logistics are complicated. Flights have to be scheduled around terminal capacity. Staff need separate safety protocols. But its better than the alternative of letting potentially infected travelers wander through the main airport.
Infrastructure adaptations to COVID have become normal even as we hope they become unnecessary.
Travelers arriving at this terminal face mandatory hotel quarantine. Ten days minimum at their own expense. Its not a welcome mat but its not supposed to be.
The UK has been more cautious about variants than some countries. Whether thats overcautious or appropriately careful depends on who you ask and which variant emerges next.
Heathrow says the terminal can be wound down quickly when the situation improves. That flexibility matters because nobody knows how long these measures will be needed.
Terminal opened June 2021
