Arrivals from China who test positive for Covid will not be forced to quarantine, the transport secretary Mark Harper has confirmed.
The senior Tory MP’s comments confirmed details – first revealed by The Independent – that testing will be voluntary for those arriving at Heathrow – the only UK airport with direct flights from China offering tests.
Mr Harper, asked if those who test positive after arriving in the UK will be required to quarantine, told LBC: “No, because what we are doing is we are collecting that information for surveillance purposes.”
Mr Harper – who campaigned against strict Covid controls from the backbenches during the pandemic – added: “The policy for arrivals from China is primarily about collecting information that the Chinese government is not sharing with the international community.”
The cabinet minister said there are “very high levels of vaccination” in the UK as he encouraged older, more vulnerable people to “get their fourth booster shot this winter”.
Under measures announced by health secretary Steve Barclay, passengers flying from China into England from Thursday will be required to take a Covid test before boarding a plane.
The government will also carry out surveillance testing of a sample of passengers from China arriving in the UK to try to spot new variants of the virus which could pose a threat.
But The Independent has learnt travellers can simply decline the invitation to be tested on arrival and leave the airport, and those who test positive will neither be quarantined or ordered to self-isolate.
The UK government has been urged not to repeat “past failures” and to align its rules with other nations, who have made arrival tests mandatory.
The Liberal Democrats’ health spokesperson Daisy Cooper said: “Government incompetence on dealing with the latest Covid threat is the last thing our overstretched NHS needs right now. This muddled thinking could haunt ministers if they get it wrong.”
Ms Cooper added: “The government’s approach to sampling needs to be brought into line with other countries. Ministers must learn from past failures.”
There are no direct flights from China to Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland but ministers said they are working with the devolved administrations to implement the measures UK-wide.
The move comes as Beijing prepares to start reissuing passports and visas for overseas trips after lifting its zero-Covid controls – a decision that has led to a massive surge in infections.
Mr Harper called Rishi Sunak’s approach a “sensible, balanced proposition” to deal with the potential spread of Covid from China.
“This is about a country, China, which isn’t sharing the health data with the global health system that we expect everybody to do,” he told LBC. “That is why we have put this temporary precautionary measure in place as China opens up its borders.”
Mr Harper said: “We are doing two things: we are requiring people who fly from China to have a pre-departure test so they have got to show that they are negative before they get on that flight, and when they get to the United Kingdom, the UK Health Security Agency will take a sample of passengers and test them.”
He added: “That is so that we get that information into our health system and we can track the virus that is coming from China.”
