Ebola Screening | rogergale

Ebola/Screening at Dover and Calais – parliamentary questions

The following parliamentary questions, tabled by Sir Roger Gale MP for written answer on Tuesday 21st October, appear on the Commons Order Paper today (Friday 17th October)

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department

What steps her department plans to take to screen arrivals from west Africa via Europe at the port of Dover for Ebola; and what steps her Department is taking to liaise with the French authorities to facilitate the screening of people, temporarily resident in Calais while seeking to enter the UK illegally, for Ebola.

Commenting on his questions Sir Roger has said:

“ Screening is starting to take place at airports and of passengers travelling via Eurotunnel but there is also, of course, the possibility of passengers from affected countries and in particular via former French colonies travelling to the UK, quite legitimately, by ferry. As a regular user of the ferry service myself I have no desire to cause further delay to passengers already facing queues but at the same time we have to try to take every practical precaution to both prevent the disease from entering the UK and to identify, isolate and treat, possible patients.

What is as dangerous is a possible outbreak of Ebola amongst those hundreds of potential illegal immigrants clustered under poor conditions in Calais. They, by their nature, cannot be subject to any pre-embarkation screening but in the interests of humanity we need to work with the French authorities to try to limit the prospects of an outbreak within that itinerant community”.