British Pakistani travellers who are isolating at the Radisson Blu Edwardian Hotel near Heathrow Airport have registered a protest against the poor facilities given to them at the quarantine facility, Geo News has reported.
According to details, authorities at the quarantine facility are not providing enough meals to 19 quarantined families with people protesting against the non-provision of food at the time of sehri and aftari.
“It’s a basic human rights issue. People have not received food for the three meals that were contractually supposed to be provided to the families. The food that has been delivered has not been on time. Moreover, we are in the midst of the Holy Month of Ramazan. There are people who have fasted without receiving any food at all,” said Hasnain Sheikh, while describing the situation in a video message.
He said that the purpose of making the video was to call to the attention of UK government authorities towards the conditions of returning travellers. Expressing that such conditions are unacceptable, Sheikh said that people staying at the facility have paid a hefty sum for their quarantine living arrangements for 10 days.
“More promises and assurances are being given via hotel security, but our plea needs to be heard. This is a human rights crisis and I hope the government pays attention,” said Ghulam Sayyadain, another individual stuck at the hotel.
Member of another quarantined family Abdullah Inayat told media outlets that his son had a bout of food poisoning after eating a meal at the centre.
“My family was forced to eat cold food and was not facilitated at all,” said Abdullah. “We are stuffed in one room like animals. We have paid more than £3,500 only to quarantine and have been deprived of even the basic facilities. For a family of five to live in a medium-sized room is unhygienic and there are dangers to [our] health.”
On the other hand, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “Hotels providing managed quarantine facilities are able to accommodate the vast majority of people’s requirements and are obligated to provide guests with three meals a day, access to WIFI, welfare and health support.”
Earlier this month, Pakistan was added to England’s “red list” amid concerns about the spread of new COVID-19 variants.
As per new COVID related rules introduced by the UK government, those who have visited or passed through a country where travel to the UK is banned must quarantine for 10 full days in a managed quarantine hotel.
