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The German federal government is preparing to restrict travel between Germany and the United Kingdom and between Germany and South Africa due to a mutation in a new type of coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), Berlin announced on Sunday. As a first step, air passenger traffic between Germany and the UK will be stopped.
Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn told national public television ARD that German airports will not be able to receive flights from Great Britain and Northern Ireland from midnight on Sunday. At the moment, the provision is valid until December 31. Negotiations on new restrictions, rules effective as of January 1 and measures affecting South Africa will begin on Monday, the minister said.
Stressed that So far no more infectious viruses have been detected in Germany.
The decision to stop air passenger traffic is detailed in a decree from the Federal Ministry of Transport. The ban only applies to passenger flights, and cargo planes and planes returning to the German base can still be picked up by airports.
According to the ARD, the German government, which will hold the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union until the end of the year, is working to ensure that member states respond as uniformly as possible to the rapid spread of the mutated virus. The regulation is expected to cover transport between the EU and the UK by sea and through the Channel Tunnel.
According to television, Chancellor Angela Merkel has already discussed the matter by phone with the President of the European Council and the European Commission and French Prime Minister Charles Michel, Ursula von der Leyen and Emmanuel Macron.
Earlier, the Dutch, Belgian and Austrian governments announced that they would ban the acceptance of passenger jets departing from the UK. The Netherlands will not accept flights from British territories until at least December 31, Belgium will introduce a 24-hour ban, starting at midnight Sunday, but it has also stopped rail traffic on British routes. The start date of the Austrian ban is not yet known.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Saturday that Mutations in SARS-CoV-2 circulating in London and the South East of England can be up to 70% more contagious, like before. However, according to experts, no studies suggest changes that make the new coronavirus mutation more likely to cause disease than previous versions, and There is also no indication that the vaccines developed so far are less effective against the new version of the virus.
A mutation that also spread to South Africa was identified as early as September, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Sunday.
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