Chinese visitors arriving in UK won’t have to isolate even if they test positive for Covid, minister says

CHINESE arrivals will not have to self-isolate even if they test positive for Covid, the Transport Secretary said today.

Passengers from mainland China will have to show a negative test before boarding a direct flight after a new wave of the virus consumed the country.

Many will also get a PCR swab after landing in Britain so scientists can track any dangerous new variants that risk spreading. 

But Mark Harper confirmed this morning that even if they then present a positive Covid result they will not be forced to quarantine.

The policy sets Britain apart from other countries like Italy which requires any Chinese arrival with the bug to isolate.

Mr Harper told LBC: “What we're doing is we're collecting that information for surveillance purposes.”

A sample of passengers will be asked to take a PCR test, but this is voluntary.

Mr Harper urged older Brits to get their fourth vaccine shot, insisting jabs were our “primary line of defence”. 

The Minister said: “The policy for arrivals from China is primarily about collecting information that the Chinese government are not sharing with the international community. 

“We'd rather they shared the data. If they did that, we wouldn't have to do this surveillance testing in the first place.”

Last week the Government bowed to calls from Tory MPs to require pre-departure tests from mainland China to Heathrow or Manchester, the two UK airports with direct flights.

Mr Harper - who led the Tory group of lockdown sceptics during the pandemic - said the policy was a “sensible, balanced proposition".

Cases in China have risen after the country abandoned its aggressive zero Covid approach, meaning the probability of an infectious arrival coming from the country is greater.

On just one flight from China to Italy, 62 out of 120 passengers had the virus - 52 per cent.