UK: No new strains of coronavirus

09:58 PM

03 January 2023 Tuesday

London – (dpa)

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s spokesman Max Blaine told reporters on Tuesday that the UK has not seen any signs of new strains of COVID-19 from China, Bloomberg News reported.

Blaine told reporters in London that Britain would start screening some flight arrivals from China on January 5 “due to the lack of detailed health information shared by China”.

The new plans, first announced on December 30, mean that passengers will not be allowed to stop on flights to the UK on the Chinese mainland without showing a negative test result for Covid-19.

Hong Kong is currently exempt from these restrictions, Blaine said.

Earlier, China had strongly criticized the strict entry regulations imposed on travelers from China, which recently dropped its zero-covid policy due to the country’s high incidence of Covid-19.

According to unconfirmed internal estimates, 248 million people in China were infected with the virus in the first three weeks of last December alone, as China grapples with a rapid increase in coronavirus cases.

The significant spike in infections came after China relaxed its zero-covid policy early last month, after nearly three years of shutdowns, quarantines and mass testing.