The GSD has said quarantine and testing rules for returning students are “discriminatory and inconsistent”.

A statement from the GSD follows below:  

Students on Gibraltar Government scholarships must inform authorities of their impending return, take a  test on arrival and quarantine for 5 days. No one else has to do that. Why? Students who are not on  Government scholarships are not subjected to the same controls or restrictions. Nor are any other ordinary  travellers.  

You can have two brothers returning from London on the same flight - one who works there and another  who is a student. The student will need to take a test and quarantine for 5 days. His brother would not. That  makes no sense. There could be a non-student returning from a city where COVID numbers are very high  who would not be tested and a student from a university with hardly any COVID cases who is subject to the  quarantine. Equally an English university student visiting friends in Gibraltar would not have to quarantine  or be tested. 

Leader of the Opposition, Keith Azopardi said: “The Government need to explain why these rules are being  applied inconsistently in this way and why other travellers are being excluded. If there is a case for testing  on arrival surely every passenger on arrival should be subjected to a test at the airport. How can it make  sense to test some people but not others when their country of origin is the same? 

We make clear that the GSD does not object to testing airline passengers on arrival or departure if this is  justifiable. But the case for discriminating between passengers and specifically against students must be  justified. The GSD has from the outset said there is undoubtedly a need to control the rise in COVID cases  through proportionate and consistently applied measures. We have also repeatedly said that the  introduction of any restrictive regulations must be rational, fair and also based upon common sense.”  

Shadow Education Minister Edwin Reyes said:  

“There is a fair amount of confusion and frustration amongst students and parents alike in relation to the  recently announced regulations which make it a requirement for any scholarship holder returning to  Gibraltar from a UK University to be tested and to self-isolate upon arrival. Many are questioning if these  regulations are simply arbitrary and not science based. Students and parents are asking for some form of  explanation in respect of the science behind the thinking which causes the measures to be implemented. 

Members of the general public who have approached us continuously highlight that they do not understand  the rationale behind Government’s actions. An example given was that a family member who was a student  last year and now undergoing graduate work experience in a busy UK City will not have the rules applied to  him – unlike the strict application of these regulations to his younger brother who is still an undergraduate  at University and yet they will both be travelling back home together for Christmas.”