Just 273 people who arrived in UK in run-up to lockdown were quarantined

Fewer than 300 people out of the 18.1 million who entered the UK in the three months prior to the coronavirus lockdown were formally quarantined, figures reveal.

Passengers on three flights from Wuhan, in China, the source of the Covid-19 outbreak, and one flight from Tokyo, Japan, that was carrying passengers from the Diamond Princess cruise ship, were taken to government-supported isolation facilities between 1 January to 22 March.

The figures, provided by the government to the Labour MP and member of the Home Affairs Select Committee, Stephen Doughty, show this totalled 273 people.

Additional data provided to the committee shows that there were 18.1m arrivals at the UK border by air, land and sea in the same period.

Although that includes arrivals from all destinations, it is understood that Home Office estimates would still put the number of potentially infected individuals entering the UK from coronavirus-affected countries in that period in the tens of thousands.

Doughty said: “The admission that just four flights from two locations, barely a few hundred individuals – out of literally millions of arrivals – were formally quarantined while the pandemic was already raging in a series of locations beggars belief.

“On what scientific basis were a handful of flights from Wuhan and one from a Tokyo singled out for extreme attention? But not a single flight from Northern Italy, Spain or the US?

“The fact that many of these people then likely arrived and travelled onwards across the UK with little or no adherence to social distancing, and with no checks or protections at the border – barely a whiff of hand sanitiser – is deeply disturbing. Let alone the arrival of 3,000 fans from Madrid as the pandemic picked up speed.

“Yet arrivals continue to this day – with no formal quarantine requirements. It is simply staggering. Who made these decisions? And on what basis?”

On 31 January, 83 passengers arrived in the UK on an evacuation flight arranged by the Foreign Office from Wuhan and were taken to a facility in Merseyside. On 2 February, a further 11 passengers arrived in the UK on a French-organised flight evacuation from Wuhan and were taken to the same site.

On 9 February, 147 passengers arrived in the UK on a final evacuation flight from Wuhan and were taken to an isolation facility in Milton Keynes. And on 22 February, 32 passengers arrived in the UK on an evacuation flight from Tokyo and were taken to the site in Merseyside.

The Government continues to allow arrivals into the UK without screening or enforced quarantine, which the home secretary Priti Patel said was based on advice from the scientific advisory group for emergencies (Sage).

Patel told the committee that air passenger numbers were down 99% year on year, while maritime passengers were down 88.7% and international rail travellers were down 94%.

Total arrivals have plunged to below 10,000 a day, compared to as high as 300,000 in the months before the crisis struck Europe.

Nick Thomas-Symonds, the shadow home secretary, said: “It was incredible that the home secretary couldn’t answer clear questions from the select committee regarding controls on flights from areas suffering from extensive coronavirus outbreaks. It appears crucial opportunities were missed, meaning significant numbers of people may have been entering the country with coronavirus.

“This leaves urgent unanswered questions for the home secretary. Further information needs to be made public on how the decisions were made and on what scientific basis – it is vital past mistakes are learned from to help shape policy as we move to the next stages of managing this crisis”

- THE GUARDIAN, UK