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British Prime Minister Johnson calls an emergency meeting on international landing bans. Austria wants to closely monitor immigrants. Science is still reluctant to make clear statements about the mutation.
Due to the new mutation of the Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus, more and more countries are interrupting their transport connections to Great Britain. On Monday, the governments of Russia, Norway, Denmark and India announced that they would temporarily stop allowing flights from the UK to land. Previously, other European countries had already cut their air connections with Great Britain. Aircraft from Great Britain can no longer land in Austria after midnight.
Currently, no more landing bans or border closures are planned against countries where the new variant has also been detected, as Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP) said on Monday. The landing ban against Great Britain had been imposed “as a precautionary measure” until the mutation had been scientifically investigated in detail. The good news, however, is that so far there has been no evidence “that the mutation ruins our vaccination plans,” Schallenberg told a press meeting with Interior Minister Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) at the airport.
The timing of the landing ban, which will initially apply until January 1, 2021, was chosen “in accordance with European consonance,” taking into account planning capacity for people, Nehammer explained. Furthermore, travelers from Britain who arrive on Monday before the midnight landing ban takes effect will be carefully screened, Schallenberg stressed. Since December 19, all travelers from Britain have had to be quarantined for at least five days after entering the country anyway.
Johnson called an emergency meeting
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called an emergency cabinet meeting Monday over international flight bans. The meeting will address the “situation with regard to international traffic”, especially freight traffic, a government spokesman said in London on Monday.
Previously, many countries had banned the landing of Great Britain planes. Israel decided the month to ban foreigners from all countries from entering the country due to the new variant of the virus. Israelis are required to be quarantined in Corona hotels beginning Wednesday at 2pm local time (1pm CET) after their entry. They must stay there for at least ten days if two corona tests are negative. They even have to stay there for 14 days without testing.
A decree of the Russian government said that from midnight all air connections with Great Britain would be suspended “due to the worsening epidemiological situation.” The regulation applies initially for one week.
The governments of Denmark and Norway also announced landing bans for flights from Great Britain. In both countries, the measure will initially only apply for 48 hours. The move will allow the government “to explore more steps to take,” said Danish Transport Minister Benny Engelbrecht. Denmark is one of the countries where the new Corona variant has already been detected.
The Norwegian Health Minister, Bent Hoie, justified the flight ban with the fact that it had to be ensured “that the variant of the virus detected in Great Britain spreads as little as possible in Norway.” Travelers from the UK must remain quarantined in Norway like all other newcomers for ten days. Also, they must be tested before January 10.
The Indian government said on Monday that “all flights between the UK and India” would be suspended until the end of the year. The Civil Aviation Department called the scheme a “precautionary measure”, adding that UK transit passengers would have to undergo mandatory corona tests upon arrival.
Finland had already imposed a two-week landing ban on British passenger planes on Sunday. The measure went into effect Monday afternoon.
Turkey also stopped all flights from the UK. Furthermore, air traffic with South Africa and the Netherlands has been suspended for the time being due to the emergence of more contagious virus variants, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca tweeted on Sunday night. Numerous other countries had previously closed flight connections to Great Britain.
“70 percent more contagious”?
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said over the weekend that the mutation that occurred in south-east England was “up to 70 percent more contagious” than the original variant of the corona virus. However, the chief virologist of the Berlin Charité, Christian Drosten, pointed out on Monday in Deutschlandfunk that this information was only an estimate. It is not yet clear if the new variant is actually more transferable. UK Health Secretary Mark Hancock said the new mutation was “out of control” on Sky News.
The virus variant has already been detected in other countries, including South Africa, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Denmark. The chief virologist of the Berlin Charité, Christian Drosten, told Deutschlandfunk on Monday that it can be assumed that the mutation had already reached Germany. He stressed that the data on the mutation were still very incomplete. Johnson’s information on the degree of infection of the mutation is an estimate.
The virus mutation has yet to be detected in Austria, the Health Ministry said on Sunday. However, Andreas Bergthaler of the Center for Research for Molecular Medicine (CeMM) in Vienna said in the lunch magazine Ö1 on Monday that the variant has already occurred sporadically in this country. After all, scientists only monitor a tiny proportion of new infections to determine what mutation of the virus they are.
(APA / AFP / dpa)
