The Government will not require people travelling to the UK from China to self-isolate if they test positive for Covid on arrival, the Transport Secretary has said. Asked if people who arrive in the UK from China who test positive for Covid would be required to quarantine, Mark Harper told LBC: “No, because what we are doing is we are collecting that information for surveillance purposes.
“But, look, one in 45 people in the United Kingdom have got Covid at the moment.”
He added: “We manage Covid now by making sure we have got very high levels of vaccination, that is why people who are at risk, older members of the community for example, should make sure they get their fourth booster shot this winter. That is how we protect people from Covid, that is our primary line of defence.
“The policy for arrivals from China is primarily about collecting information that the Chinese government are not sharing with the international community.”
Mr Harper said the Government had created a “sensible, balanced proposition” to deal with the potential spread of Covid from China. The Transport Secretary told LBC: “This is about a country, China, which isn’t sharing the health data with the global health system that we expect everybody to do.
“That is why we have put this temporary precautionary measure in place as China opens up its borders.
“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.
“That is so that we get that information into our health system and we can track the virus that is coming from China.
“That, I think, is a very sensible, balanced proposition which I think helps keep people in the UK safe but doesn’t put any restrictions on how people in the UK are able to operate.”
