Minister of State: Department for Transport (): The Government has
taken action, under powers within the Public Health (Control of
Diseases) Act 1984, to limit the risk of COVID-19 infections from
travellers originating from China.
The Government has announced these precautionary and temporary
measures to improve the UK’s ability to detect potential new
variants of COVID-19 from China, following an increase in cases
there and the easing of their border measures from 8 January.
The decision has been taken due to a lack of comprehensive health
information shared by China. The situation remains under review
and if there are improvements in information sharing and greater
transparency then the temporary measures will be amended.
On 30 December 2022, the Government announced that it would
require people flying directly or indirectly from mainland China
to England to provide proof of a negative pre-departure test,
taken within 2 days of departure. This came into effect as of
04:00 on Thursday 5 January 2023. This applies to transiting
passengers, as well as those whose final destination is England.
In addition, we announced that the UK Health Security Agency
(UKHSA) will launch surveillance which will see a sample of
passengers from China, arriving at Heathrow airport only,
undertaking PCR tests for COVID-19 on a voluntary basis. UKHSA
activated this process on Sunday 8 January in readiness for the
first flights arriving later this week. All positive samples will
be sent for sequencing to enhance existing measures to monitor
for new variants.
The UK joins a growing list of countries across the world
including the US, France, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Spain,
Malaysia and India in announcing measures designed to help to
detect and assess any new COVID-19 variants.
Whilst public health is a devolved matter and these measures
currently apply only in England, the Government continues to work
closely with the devolved administrations.
The Government recognises the impact that these temporary health
measures may have on businesses and passengers. The situation
remains under constant review and the UK is working with industry
and closely monitoring the situation on the mainland while
encouraging China to provide greater transparency on their COVID
data.