UK ministers have been accused of still ignoring the threat of Covid as pressure mounts to impose travel restrictions on China.
The US, Italy, India, Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia and Japan all announced mandatory tests after Beijing said it is to reopen its borders next week after three years.
More than half (52%) of passengers on a flight from China to Milan, Italy, tested positive for Covid after the measure was brought in.
China claims it is facing 5,000 cases a day but experts say inaccurate data reporting means the figure could be closer to a million, creating a breeding ground for new variants to mutate.
And a passenger arriving test-free from Shanghai into London today told how the virus is now rife in the country.
Rubin Lou, 54, who lives in London, arrived into Heathrow Airport at 5.30pm on a packed flight.
The vast majority of passengers wore masks as they exited the airport and went on to take trains and taxis to their final UK destinations.
Rubin owns a factory in the Shanghai area and so travels frequently.
He told the Mirror: “I don’t really think there should have to be tests in China for travel here, as here in the UK most people got the Covid vaccine.
“But in China the vaccine was about a year ago and so its (effectiveness) may have reduced in that time. Most of my factory in China has covid at the moment, there has been a big change recently.
“They isolate for some days and then go back to work so it hasn’t impacted too much in that sense.”
One son, who met his parents as they arrived, said they had a “long journey” ahead to Norwich.
Another traveller, who did not want to be named, said: “We understand there might be some worry from people but we take precautions and wear masks. It is the UK’s decision, not ours.
“There is nothing more we can do.”
The comments come as independent MP Neil Coyle, of the Foreign Affairs Committee, hits out at No10 and says China is denying the level of problems it faces.
He added: “The dangers are being tackled by many other countries but ministers are still shovelling turkey and ignoring the threat.”
Travel experts say the UK may get up to 25,000 Chinese passengers in January, with airlines set to increase flights for the Chinese New Year.
Most of Britain’s foreign students come from China, with 32% or 143,820 Chinese students studying in the UK in 2021.
The Government said there are no plans to bring in new rules for Chinese travellers but officials yesterday admitted the situation is “under review”.
The Tories have been accused of again being too slow and at risk of making the same mistakes as at the start of the pandemic in 2020. Ministers were slammed for their failure to lock down early enough and not impose border controls in time, as highlighted in the People’s Covid Inquiry last year.
Paul Charles, chief executive of travel consultancy the PC Agency, said six direct flights were planned from China to the UK in the next week, plus 26 in January – a figure he said may rise to 30.
He added: “In 2019, just over a million Chinese visitors came to the UK. With Chinese borders opening up again from January 8, many will be looking to travel.”
Mr Charles added the most appropriate way forward would be for No10 to ask airlines to check fliers are Covid-negative before leaving China.
Prof Christina Pagel said China was suffering a bad Covid wave due to a Chinese vaccine that does not work well against Omicron.
The director of University College London’s Clinical Operational Research Unit, added: “They’ve also under-vaccinated the elderly. Only about two-thirds of them have been vaccinated.
“And most people who did get vaccinated haven’t had a dose in about a year.” Prof Pagel said China had little previous coronavirus infections so has built up no immunity due to the country’s zero-Covid policy.
She also queried the accuracy of China’s official figures, saying: “China is barely reporting any new deaths and that seems to conflict with the eyewitness reports of morgues overflowing and hospitals overflowing.”
But Prof Pagel did question the “logic” of tests for Chinese fliers. She said: “If it’s about keeping it out of the country, then you have to require a negative test before a flight but not just from China, from everywhere.
“Japan, a country of 100 million people, is in its worst ever Covid wave. They’ve got the highest deaths they’ve recorded. No one’s saying we should test Japanese people.”
Prof Pagel added measures could be useful in tracking variants, such as testing a random sample of fliers from China and other countries.
Liberal Dem MP Daisy Cooper slammed No10 as she called for tests for fliers from China plus a fresh drive for booster jabs and continuing to publish Covid modelling data.
She said: “Our NHS is beyond stretched so any sensible government would take precautionary measures to prevent further winter pressures.
"China’s rapid shift out of lockdown and lack of transparency of its health data is raising international concerns about possible new variants."
Ex-Health Minister Lord Bethell also urged the Government to brin in tests for visitors from China.
The Tory peer, who was in post during the pandemic, also called for post-flight surveillance of arrivals like in Italy to learn whether there are new variants and the impact on the health system.
Tory MP Steve Brine, chair of the health select committee, 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.”
Responding to a question on restrictions on Chinese fliers, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said health threats to the UK will be kept under review.
Yesterday he met military personnel at Manchester Airport’s passport control as they filled in for striking Border Force staff.
Mr Wallace said: “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.”
Health Minister Will Quince added the “key threat” will be whether there is any new Covid variant from China and “there’s no evidence at this point”.
He told broadcasters: “A lot of people will be concerned about the news coming out of China.
“The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Steve Barclay) met with the chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency and the chief medical officer this morning, so it’s being taken incredibly seriously by the Government.
“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.
“But, nevertheless, we’re keeping the situation very much under review."
