Coronavirus – Flights from Italy, China and Iran STILL arriving in Britain every day despite countries being hardest hit
THOUSANDS of passengers from Italy and China are still flying into Britain - despite the deadly coronavirus crisis.
Planes have landed in London from Beijing and Shanghai every day this week and direct flights from Rome are due to touch down over the next seven days.
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On Saturday two Air China flights from Beijing and a China Eastern service from Shanghai landed at Heathrow.
A separate scheduled flight from Shanghai also landed at Gatwick,
And Italy’s national's airline Alitalia is still operating up to four daily flights into the Heathrow hub.
At least 16 flights landed in the capital from Leonardo da Vinci International Airport in Rome since March 15.
The flights came as Italy was named the epicentre of the virus and as figures showed 4,825 Italians have died.
The route between London and Rome has stayed open despite BA, easyJet and Ryanair cancelling all flights.
Iran Air is also still operating three flights a week from Tehran and in the last week three Iranian aircraft landed at Heathrow.
The Islamic Republic has the third-highest coronavirus death toll in the world with more than 1,500 fatalities.
Passengers showing symptoms of the infection are not allowed to board flights in the three hard-hit countries.
However, those who do are asked to self-isolate for 14 days on arrival in the UK, but there is no way of enforcing that.
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Former Environment minster, Theresa Villiers told the government about the Iran flights after concerned constituents contacted her.
She told the : "The time has come to suspend routine air travel from Iran.
"I have raised this issue with the foreign secretary and I would now urge him to take this step."
A spokesman for the government said: "There is no evidence that interventions like closing borders or travel bans would have any effect on the spread of infection."
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The Foreign Office advised Britons last week not to travel anywhere abroad unless it was essential.
While not all countries have banned British tourists, travellers risk being stranded abroad or quarantined if they still leave the country, along with steep costs for medical bills and emergency flights.