Fears of fresh Covid travel hell as UK faces calls for restrictions on China amid cases surge
THE UK is considering slapping travellers from China with new rules amid a surge in Covid infections.
Ministers have been facing pressure to test arrivals at the border to contain any new mutations.
After initially just saying there were “no plans” for such a a crackdown, Downing Street now say the situation is “under review”.
The spokesperson said: “We are keeping the situation under review and working closely with UKHSA. At the moment there are no plans to introduce any new Covid-19 testing for arrivals.”
It comes after a former health minister warned that Chinese visitors should be screened for new variants of the virus.
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Lord Jim Bethell urged the Government to follow other countries by introducing border tests and quarantining anyone who’s positive.
Downing Street insists it has “no plans” to revive such measures but is coming under increasing pressure from senior Tories.
The US, Italy, India, South Korea and Japan have all imposed curbs after the end of Beijing’s aggressive zero-Covid policy saw cases of the bug spike.
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Lord Bethell, a health minister during the pandemic, told the BBC: “What the Italians are doing is post-flight surveillance of arrivals in Italy in order to understand whether there are any emerging variants and… the impact of the virus on the Italian health system.”
“That is a sensible thing to do and something the British Government should be seriously looking at.”
He added: “You’ve got to appreciate that a lot of people who get on these flights, we know from experience, will be people who are poorly themselves and are coming to the West for medical help.
“That is quite a daunting prospect for our healthcare system and it’s important that we know which of them have got the virus and what kind of virus they’ve got.”
After the US introduced testing for Chinese arrivals, senior Tory MP Tobias Ellwood weighed in: “Let’s act swiftly and do this here.”
A Government spokesman said: “We are keeping the situation under review and working closely with UKHSA.
“At the moment there are no plans to introduce any new Covid-19 testing for arrivals.”