Johnson calls emergency meeting on international flight bans

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson calls an emergency meeting tomorrow to discuss the state of a country’s international air services in light of a wave of flight bans to and from Britain, announced by many countries to halt the spread of the new strain of coronavirus. it spread widely across the country, Reuters reported, citing a spokeswoman for the prime minister.

“The prime minister will chair the COBRA emergency response group meeting … Additional meetings are currently taking place on the issue, which will continue tomorrow in order to prepare robust response plans,” the spokeswoman said.

Earlier today, the British Public Health Service released a statement stating that the mutated variant of the coronavirus was identified in the country in September, but began to spread widely in mid-November, BTA reports.

The document says the new option has been identified after incidence rates in the county of Kent, in the south-east of England, did not decline, despite the introduction of strict quarantine measures. The same mutant was later observed to be spreading to London and Essex.

British experts emphasize that so far they have not found data indicating a higher mortality from the new mutation compared to the original version of the virus. However, at the same time, in areas where it is detected, the coronavirus spreads faster.

Doctors also note that the Pfizer and Biontech vaccine, which is already being used in the UK, also protects against the new version of the coronavirus. “As of now, there is no reason to say that this vaccine will not protect people from the new strain,” the statement said.