BA apologises after coronavirus checks delay Heathrow disembarkation
A British Airways aircraft was locked down for over 45 minutes on landing at Heathrow amid fears two passengers had symptoms associated with coronavirus.
Passengers were asked to answer questions about their health and travel history, according to MailOnline, which has seen one of the questionnaires.
They were also asked to sign a form confirming they are ‘currently well and do not have any of the following symptoms – fever, shortness of breath, cough, sore throat, runny nose’, according to the online news site.
One passenger told MailOnline the crew on the flight, which touched down at 5am on Thursday, wore face masks and one said: "F****** hell, there’s two passengers that have got it.". Another said: "Oh sh**, here we go."
The pilot then said asked passengers to remain seated until medics arrive at the aircraft with forms.
The pilot asked passengers to fill in the forms, then hand them in to the Port Health Authorities.
BA has extended its suspension of flights to Beijing and Shanghai until February 29. On Wednesday, the airline said it was cancelling flights until Friday, while it assessed the situation. However, no flights to the two cities have been on sale since.
A spokesman for BA said: "The safety of our customers and crew is at the heart of everything we do, and our highly skilled crews are trained to deal with the full range of medical situations which can occur on board.
"We said sorry to our customers for the delay after landing, this was due to precautionary checks by the Port Health authorities before everyone was cleared to go home."
Lisa
Lisa joined Travel Weekly nearly 25 years ago as technology reporter and then sailed around the world for a couple of years as cruise correspondent, before becoming deputy editor. Now freelance, Lisa writes for various print and web publications, edits Corporate Traveller’s client magazine, Gateway, and works on the acclaimed Remembering Wildlife series of photography books, which raise awareness of nature’s most at-risk species and helps to fund their protection.
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