No 'variants of concern' were found among hundreds of thousands of people who came into the country during a three week period in July, it has been reported.
The government is currently making sure all arrivals into the country are tested for Covid-19 in a bid to minimise the spread to the deadly virus.
They're particularly keen to ensure coronavirus variants of concern such as the beta and delta are kept out.
Testing prior to arrival, periods of self-isolation and ten days in quarantine hotels have been mandated to this end.
After several months of the international travel procedures being in place, it appears very few Covid infected passengers are arriving in the country.
Fewer than one in 60 people returning from countries on the amber or red lists are testing positive for the virus, The Telegraph reports, citing official data.
Of the 324,000 passengers that arrived in the UK from red or amber list countries between July 1 and 21, none were found to be infected with 'variants of concern', it was reported.
Broken down by the traffic light system, 4,432 (1.5 per cent) amber arrivals had Covid, compared to 336 (1.4 per cent) of red arrivals and 0.7 per cent of the 33,327 green arrivals.
While this data may be reassuring for those who want to avoid another variant-sparked surge in cases, some have interpreted it as an argument against the government's approach.
Former BA chief Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), argues that the measures in place are overly cautious.
“These tests are unnecessary and have spawned an unregulated industry supported by Government," he told the Telegraph.
"The cost of testing is doubling the price of the flight on many routes and until this scandal is addressed the UK’s aviation industry recovery will continue to lag behind other countries."
Yesterday Boris Johnson faced fresh calls to ease international travel restrictions as the fallout continued from a decision to abandon plans for a new watchlist.
The idea of an "amber watchlist" for countries at risk of being moved into the red category was ditched following ministerial infighting, Tory backbench opposition and criticism from the travel industry.
Whitehall sources have blamed Transport Secretary Grant Shapps for the fiasco, while Labour accused the Government of being responsible for "reckless U-turns and confusion".
Meanwhile, it has emerged the head of the Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC), which advises on the travel rules, has quietly left her post without a successor being appointed.
The amber watchlist plan was killed off on Monday but the bitter briefing wars around the policy continued in Westminster, with Mr Shapps the focus of attention.
"The Department for Transport came up with this policy, briefed it, briefed against it, then blamed the Prime Minister," a Whitehall source told The Times.
An ally of Mr Shapps acknowledged it appeared someone in Government "has it in" for the Transport Secretary.
Ministers are expected to consider any changes to the traffic light system later this week.
