THE Foreign Office is ’working around the clock’ to get stranded Britons home during the lockdown, says the UK Government.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said that the Government was working with airlines including British Airways, Virgin and Easy Jet to fly tens of thousands of people who are currently stuck abroad back to this country. Vulnerable people would be prioritised for the charter flights, said Mr Raab.
The Foreign Office has also tripled its call centre capacity to field the many more enquiries it is receiving from Brits overseas.
Meanwhile the Government’s chief scientific adviser has urged the public ’not to pay too much heed’ to day-to-day fluctuations in figures for coronavirus cases.
Speaking to today’s live pandemic briefing, Sir Patrick Vallance said he expected the current social distancing rules to reduce the rate of transmission and to have a positive effect on the number of cases overall.