Allowing flights from locked-down Italy to land at Edinburgh Airport without special procedures in place to combat the possible spread of coronavirus is ‘crazy’, a Lothian MSP has warned.

While many flights from high-risk zones have been cancelled, passengers are still landing in Edinburgh from cities including Milan in northern Italy.

The airport has not put any special measures in place to manage these passengers, as per Scottish Government guidance.

It comes as the Covid-19 outbreak was classed a pandemic by the World Health Organisation, due to both the ‘alarming’ levels both of the severity of the disease and of inaction in response to it.

The number of positive cases in the NHS Lothian area has reached eight, with 36 cases in Scotland overall.

“If planes are going to be landing from Italy, including Milan which is a category 1 area, measures must be taken to ensure they don’t have Coronavirus and spread the virus further in Lothian,” said Miles Briggs, Conservative MSP for Lothian.

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“Temperature tests for Coronavirus are not fail proof, but could potentially discover if a person has coronavirus so that the necessary precautions can be taken.”

Emeritus professor of bacteriology at Aberdeen University Hugh Pennington said it was not advisable for flights to continue to arrive from Italy.

“It would be better if they weren’t coming from Italy, it’s the main source of the virus at the moment,” he told the Evening News.

“At least they should be given a brochure or something to tell them what to do and who to ring if they feel ill - they shouldn’t go to the GP or to A&E, they should call.”

Doubt over the continuing arrival of flights from Italy was shared by Mr Briggs.

“Given this is now a global pandemic, many will be questioning the wisdom of these flights being able to land in our capital city,” he said.

“People will think it’s plain crazy that this potentially deadly bug could be spread further by these arrivals.”

“The health of people in the Lothians, particularly those who are elderly or have underlying conditions, needs to be paramount.”

Edinburgh Airport has made no change to arrival procedures and is following advice from the Scottish government, a spokesperson said.

When asked about testing at airports in a parliamentary debate on Tuesday health secretary Jeane Freeman said she was satisfied with the current approach of no special measures.

“Only a third of those who are infected by the coronavirus demonstrate that by way of a spike in their temperature,” she said.

“One difficulty with screening arrivals at airports is that people will be missed because they are not showing an increase in their temperature, which then gives false reassurance.

“That is why, based on the scientific and clinical advice that we have, screening at airports is not the right precaution for us to take.

It comes as the coronavirus outbreak has been classified as a pandemic by the WHO, a decision which was not taken lightly, Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

He said: “Pandemic is not a word to use lightly or carelessly. It is a word that, if misused, can cause unreasonable fear, or unjustified acceptance that the fight is over, leading to unnecessary suffering and death.

“Describing the situation as a pandemic does not change WHO’s assessment of the threat posed by this coronavirus.

“It doesn’t change what WHO is doing, and it doesn’t change what countries should do.”

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte ordered people to stay home and seek permission for essential travel in an announcement on Monday.

“We’re having an important growth in infection... and in deaths,” he said, adding that “the whole of Italy will become a protected zone.”

“We all must give something up for the good of Italy. We have to do it now,” he added.

“This is why I decided to adopt even more strong and severe measures to contain the advance and protect the health of all citizens.”

People in Italy are forbidden to gather in public, with all sports matches suspended and schools and universities closed until April 3.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned yesterday that up to 70% of the country’s population - 58 million people - could become infected.

China has reported a total of 80,754 confirmed cases and 3,136 deaths.

Coronavirus: Passengers from locked-down Italy arrive in Edinburgh with no COVID-19 testing

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