Race to track 200 people on flight after officials fail to tell airline of Covid cases

Health officials are scrambling to contact more than 200 British holidaymakers on a flight from Crete last week after authorities failed to alert the airline that eight passengers had tested positive for coronavirus. The teenagers, from Hampshire, were diagnosed after returning to the UK on a Wizz Air flight to London Luton airport on 25 August. The positive tests should have triggered an urgent response to track down the other 204 passengers on board, but Wizz Air said it had not been made aware of the cases until contacted by the Guardian. The new cluster of cases from a Greek island raises further questions about the UK’s monitoring of holidaymakers, as ministers continue to rule out testing at airports. It will increase the pressure on the government to impose quarantine measures in all regions on arrivals from Greece, after Scotland and Wales announced restrictions on 1 September. The UK has pledged to quarantine arrivals from any country recording at least 20 coronavirus cases per 100,000 people over a seven-day period. On Wednesday, Greece had 14.3 cases per 100,000 people.<br/>