Coronavirus News Update – Sept. 5: Heathrow Airport Presses UK Government Over Long Lines
London Heathrow Airport, Terminal 2 – The Queen’s Terminal
Photographs of long lines to enter the country at London’s Heathrow Airport surfaced on social media once again, and the airport put the blame on the British Border Force.
“We are very sorry that passengers faced unacceptable queuing times in immigration last night (Friday) due to too few Border Force officers on duty,” a the airport said in a statement the following morning.
“The Border Force were aware of the extra demand from families and we were very disappointed that they did not provide sufficient resources,” the statement continued.
Meanwhile, the Home Office said that the situation was “unacceptable.”
The Border Force falls under the jurisdiction of the Home Office.
“Throughout the pandemic we have been clear that queue times may be longer as we ensure all passengers are compliant with the health measures put in place to keep the UK public safe,” the Home Office said in a statement. “However, the very long wait times we saw at Heathrow last night are unacceptable.”
As of Sunday morning, the world has recorded 221.3 million Covid-19 cases and almost 4.6 million deaths, according to Worldometer, a service that tracks such information. In addition, 197.8 million people worldwide have recovered from the virus.
The average daily number of new coronavirus cases in the United States over the past 14 days is 160,901, a 7%change and a trend that is fueled by the highly contagious India, or Delta, variant. The average daily death toll over the same period is 1,544, a change of 53% over the same period.
Since the start of the pandemic the United States has recorded 40.8 million cases, a higher figure than any other country and one that is followed by India, which now has almost 33 million officially recorded cases and 440,682 deaths, although experts believe that both numbers are in reality significantly higher.
Since vaccinations started at the end of last year over 5.41 billion doses have been administered across the globe as of Sunday morning, an increase of 0.03 billion over the past 24 hours and the equivalent of 71 doses for every 100 people, a one-dose increase per hundred over the past 24 hours.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that, as of Sunday, 206.9 million people in the United States – or 62.3% – have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Of that population, 53%, or 175.8 million people, are now fully vaccinated, and the total number of doses that have been dispensed in the United States is now 374.5 million, which translates to 3,2 million shots having been dispensed on Saturday. Breaking this down further, 74.8% of the population over the age of 18 – or 193.2 million people – has received at least a first inoculation and 64% of the same group – or 165.4 million people – is fully vaccinated.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)
