By Ben Kerrigan-
The defence secretary today was isolated in his unwise plans not to introduce mandatory COVID-19 tests for arrivals to the UK from China, despite the fact a number of countries have imposed controls.
Ben Wallace( pictured)today announced that the UK government is adopting a wait-and-see approach and is keeping the situation “under review” after previously stating there are no plans to introduce mandatory COVID-19 testing for arrivals from China. the infections arriving and late with a lockdown compared to other major countries.
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India, Italy, Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia and Japan said they would also place restrictions on travellers arriving from China.
All plane passengers aged two and above will be required to have a negative result no more than two days before leaving from the mainland, Hong Kong or Macau. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Americans should also reconsider travel to those places.
The news follows China’s announcement that it was abandoning its COVID-zero policy and was preparing to reopen its borders in January.
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Several other countries have pursued precautionary measures in protecting their population from the possibility of wide spread covid, after the world managed to control the previous pandemic.
There are fears of a massive spread of the disease worldwide if action is not taken
Health minister Will Quince admitted that people “will be concerned by the news coming out of China” but he added: “The key thing to look out for is a new variant, and there is no evidence of a new variant that is not already prevalent in the UK – but we are keeping the situation under review.”
He also said Health Secretary Steve Barclay has met the head of the UK Health Security Agency, Dame Jenny Harries, and the chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty to discuss the situation.
The European Union’s Health Security Committee has called for the bloc’s member states to coordinate and roll out joint measures against COVID-19 as China reopens its borders.
The informal advisory group on health security at European level – said following an emergency meeting on the COVID-19 situation in China that “coordination of national responses to serious cross border threats to health is crucial.”
The US announced on Wednesday that, from 5 January, all arrivals from China will have to provide a negative COVID test result taken no more than two days before their flight.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the move was due to the surge in infections and a lack of adequate and transparent information from China, particularly on the strains circulating in the country.
Japan has imposed a mandatory negative COVID-19 test upon arrival for travellers from mainland China. Those who test positive will be required to quarantine for seven days. New border measures for China will come into effect at midnight on 30 December. The government will also limit requests from airlines to increase flights to China.
As from 1 January, people travelling to India from China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand must have a negative COVID test result before their departure and upload it on an Indian government website.
Meanwhile, Italy has ordered COVID-19 antigen swabs and virus sequencing for all travellers coming from China. Milan’s main airport, Malpensa, has already started testing passengers arriving from Beijing and Shanghai.
As from January 1 , all passengers on direct flights from China, as well as by boat at two offshore islands, will have to take PCR tests upon arrival in Taiwan requiring virus tests for visitors from China.
Asked whether the UK government would consider restrictions for travellers from China, defence secretary Mr Wallace said: “The government is looking at that, 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.
“I think the Department of Transport will take medical advice, talk to the Department of Health and they’ll come to some decisions depending on what we see coming out of China, but at the moment it’s under review.”
A government spokesperson previously said: “There are no plans to reintroduce COVID-19 testing or additional requirements for arrivals into the UK.”
But the UK Health Security Agency will continue to monitor the prevalence and spread of harmful variants and keep international data under review, they added.
Beijing’s announcement means millions of Chinese people could go abroad for next month’s Lunar New Year holiday – the first time most have been able to travel internationally since 2020.
o test or not to COVID test people arriving from China? That’s the question UK government officials are mulling as the east Asian country opens up to international travel.
At the moment, the UK government is adopting a wait-and-see approach. It is keeping the situation “under review” after previously stating there are no plans to introduce mandatory COVID-19 testing for arrivals from China. the infections arriving and late with a lockdown compared to other major countries.
The big worry for scientists and officials is new variants entering the UK which could be more virulent and more contagious than the ones already circulating.
Professor Rowland Kao, an expert in epidemiology and data science at Edinburgh university, told Sky News: “At the moment there is no obvious indication there are any new variants emerging from China.
“But the problem we have is we have so little data from China that we really don’t know what’s going on.”
He added: “Every time we get a different variant coming into the country from whatever source or even arising within the country, as has happened in the past, we get surges of the number of cases.
“Those surges in cases ultimately result in surges in the number of people in hospital. And we need to be aware of these things, do as much we can to prepare for them. Although honestly, there isn’t that much under the current circumstances we can do.”
Health minister Will Quince added: “The key thing to look out for is a new variant, and there is no evidence of a new variant that is not already prevalent in the UK – but we are keeping the situation under review.”
Prof Kao thinks that international arrivals should have lateral flow tests done.
He said: “If you have a positive test, have a PCR test done so we can get the information we need to understand what’s happening. That isn’t going to prevent the spread of the infection.
“We’ll get far too few that way, but it will give us the data to understand what’s going on. Understand what’s coming into the country, and whether or not we should be concerned about new variants arising or arriving from elsewhere.”
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