Cardiff could be first UK airport to test all passengers for coronavirus

‘It could protect passengers, their families and communities in the best way,’ says Welsh health minister

Cardiff airport could start testing all passengers (Getty)

Cardiff could become the first UK airport to test all passengers for Covid-19 on arrival.

After an outbreak of coronavirus was detected in holidaymakers returning to Cardiff from the Greek island of Zante, Welsh health minister Vaughan Gething said mass testing was something he was considering.

“Testing at an airport is not something I have ruled out,” he told BBC Radio Wales. “I want to have another look at whether that would be possible with more time to plan for that.

“It would add to the time it takes people to get through the airport but it could protect passengers, their families and communities in the best way.”

Thirty cases of Covid-19 contracted by travellers who have returned to Cardiff from Greece have so far been reported.

The Welsh government has introduced the UK’s first regional travel restrictions in response, instructing all passengers arriving specifically from Zante to quarantine for 14 days, regardless of whether they have symptoms.

TUI has offered passengers arriving into Cardiff from Zante Covid-19 tests – one taken 48 hours after arrival, and another after eight days.

The tour operator has now cancelled all holidays to the resort of Laganas, which attracts young party-goers, after it became clear that travellers were not adhering to social distancing rules.

“Recent cases shows that some customers are not following social distancing and Covid safety measures,“ said Andrew Flintham, managing director of TUI UK and Ireland.

“It is therefore the right thing to do to protect and reduce a now identified potential risk to others by no longer offering holidays to this specific resort.

“The recent cases in Wales have highlighted a demographic of customers that have recently returned from Zante and subsequently tested positive.”

The Scottish government has separately taken the entirety of Greece off its list of travel corridors, meaning all arrivals from there will have to self-isolate for two weeks.

Travellers arriving into England from Greece are not currently required to quarantine, but this could change at any time if the infection rate is deemed too high.