The vector for malaria is the mosquito.  It flies quickly from an infected host to a new, uninfected host, carrying with it the plasmodium parasite.  One way of Curbing the spread of malaria and saving lives is to eliminate the vector insect.

 

One way of reducing the global spread of deadly viruses is to control the vector mechanism:  international  travel and air travel, in particular.

Aircraft travel much faster than mosquitoes   and cover much greater distances  from even  the most remote corners of the globe and each passenger is a potential carrier of one or more types of virus.

Contrary to the idea of the “Chinese virus” propagated by President Trump, direct transmission  of Covid-19 from  China and other Asian countries accounts for only a very small level of importation to this country.

The UK epidemic arose from a very large number of transmission routes, each introduction event being from inbound international travel.

Importations from Italy by early March were soon surpassed in number by importations by inbound travellers from Spain and France. During March, importations were attributable to a growing range of countries, peaking around 15 March, then quickly spreading through local transmission.

In February, the World Health Organisation (WHO) gave warning of a new, highly infectious  virus having been identified in China.  The UK government took no action, while other countries were  controlling entry from infected areas, or closing their borders completely.  Even the UK’s first lockdown came a month too late, at an estimated cost of 40,000 lives.

If the UK is to meet its carbon emission reduction target, it must reduce the fastest-growing emitter: air travel.  There is now another good reason for reducing air travel: protection against further pandemics.

Our Prime Minister is not setting a good example. Today, 9 December 2020, he has flown from London to Brussels on yet another Brexit mission. At neither end of the journey, being a VIP, will he be subject to customs and security checks.  The air journey will take 1 hour and 5 minutes. By Eurostar, the journey would take 1 hour and 56 minutes.

This jaunt is less about international diplomacy and more about a public relations demonstration that our valiant PM is striving might and main for a Brexit deal. For the sake of saving 51 minutes on the exercise, he is belting unnecessary extra tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere. Not a good example to the British people.