The failure to impose health checks or a compulsory period in quarantine for those arriving at airports has been criticised

At least 15,000 people a day are flying into the UK without checks on their medical condition, the health secretary admitted yesterday.

Matt Hancock said that the equivalent of 105,000 passengers a week were entering the UK from countries including those with serious coronavirus outbreaks such as the US, China, Spain and Italy. Criticism has mounted over the failure to impose health checks or a compulsory period in quarantine for people arriving at UK airports. The US has banned entry for people from Britain and elsewhere in Europe.

The government has insisted that routine health screening for all passengers on arrival would do nothing to halt the spread of Covid-19 because of the scale of the outbreak in the UK. The incubation period of up