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The Hague (AFP)
The Dutch government on Sunday banned all passenger flights from Britain after finding the first case of a new, more infectious strain of coronavirus circulating in the UK.
The ban, from 6 a.m. (0500 GMT) Sunday to January 1, came hours after Britain announced a stay-at-home order for part of the country to slow down the new variant.
“An infectious mutation of the COVID-19 virus is circulating in the UK. It is said to spread easier and faster and is more difficult to detect,” the Dutch Ministry of Health said in a statement.
The Dutch public health body, RIVM, therefore “recommends that any introduction of this strain of the virus from the UK be limited as much as possible by limiting and / or controlling passenger movements.”
The Health Ministry added that a “case study in the Netherlands in early December revealed a virus with the variant described in the UK.”
Experts were analyzing how the infection happened and if there were any related cases.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s cabinet had now made the “precautionary decision” to ban flights from Britain, the statement said, adding that other forms of transport are still under review.
He urged Dutch citizens not to travel unless strictly necessary.
“Over the next few days, together with other EU member states, (the government) will explore the possibility of further limiting the risk of the new strain of the virus being brought in from the UK,” the statement said.
The Netherlands is under a five-week lockdown until mid-January with schools and all non-essential stores closed to stem the rise of the virus.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said early data suggests that the virus circulating in London and the south-east of England is up to 70 percent more transmittable.
© 2020 AFP
