Visitors from China must be screened for Covid amid spike in infections

VISITORS from China must be screened for Covid amid a huge spike in infections, senior Tories are warning.

Ministers were last night under pressure to impose border checks to stop any dangerous new mutations from spreading.

2

2

Downing Street insists there are currently “no plans” to introduce a Chinese crackdown but officials are keeping the situation “under review”.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay held urgent talks with the boss of the UK Health Security Agency and the chief medical officer yesterday.

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 surge.

On one flight from China to Italy more than half of all passengers were found to have Covid.

Lord Bethell, a former health minister during the pandemic, told the BBC: “What the Italians are doing… is a sensible thing to do and something the British Government should be seriously looking at.”

Italy’s policy of testing all arrivals from China and quarantining anyone positive would allow health chiefs to monitor any new variants, Lord Bethell said.

Tory chair of the health select committee Steve Brine agreed Ministers must “err on the side of over not under reaction”.

He told Times Radio: “Public confidence is such that we know the lesson of two years ago was that time is of the essence.

“The public are a bit bemused that we are in this place, seemingly not having learned.”

And after the US introduced testing for Chinese arrivals, senior Tory MP Tobias Ellwood weighed in: “Let’s act swiftly and do this here.”

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace yesterday said the Government was “looking at” whether a border crackdown was needed.

He told broadcasters at Manchester Airport: “It’s under review, we noticed obviously what the United States has done and India and I think Italy has looked at it.

“We keep under review all the time, obviously, health threats to the United Kingdom, wherever they may be.”

But Transport Secretary Mark Harper is understood to be reluctant to impose checks without clear evidence they would be necessary and also work.

The Cabinet Minister formerly led the Covid Recovery Group of lockdown-sceptic Tory MPs during the pandemic.

Health Minister Will Quince said the situation was being taken “incredibly seriously”.

He said: “The key threat is any new variant. There’s no evidence at this point of a new variant from China, a variant that is not already prevalent here in the UK.

A Government spokesman added “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.”