One of Britain’s two aircraft carriers is to set sail later this month despite fears that it could face a similar fate to French and American carriers, which had to be quarantined after hundreds of crew members were infected by Covid-19.

HMS Queen Elizabeth is set to depart from Portsmouth for a scheduled training cruise around the UK with a 600-strong crew.

So far four US nuclear carriers have had to pull into port after the virus infected their crews, and earlier this week the French carrier Charles de Gaulle was ordered home after crew were infected with Covid-19.

The former defence minister Kevan Jones said the HMS Queen Elizabeth should not sail without all of her 600 crew being tested for the virus.