Several European Union nations moved to ban flights from the UK on Sunday and others were considering similar action, in a bid to prevent a new strain of the coronavirus spreading across southern England from laying a solid foundation in the continent.
France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria and Italy announced restrictions on travel to the UK, hours after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that Christmas shopping and gatherings in southern England should be canceled due to rapid spread of infections attributed to the new variant of the coronavirus.
The World Health Organization (WHO) tweeted on Saturday night that it was “in close contact with UK officials about the new variant of the # Covid19 virus” and promised to update governments and the public as more becomes known. .
The new strain was identified in south-east England in September and has been spreading in the area ever since, a WHO official told the BBC on Sunday. “What we understand is that it has higher transmissibility, in terms of its ability to spread,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO technical lead on Covid-19.
Van Kerkhove said the strain had been identified in Denmark, the Netherlands and Australia, where there was one case that did not spread further.
Studies are underway to better understand how fast it spreads and whether “it is related to the variant itself or a combination of factors to behavior,” he added.
“The more this virus spreads, the more opportunities it has to change,” he said. “So we really have to do everything we can right now to prevent the spread.”
British health authorities said that while the variant has been circulating since September, it wasn’t until last week that officials felt they had enough evidence to declare that it has higher transmissibility than other circulating coronaviruses.
Patrick Vallance, the British government’s chief scientific adviser, said officials are concerned about the new variant because it contains 23 different changes, “an unusually large number of variants” that affect how the virus attaches itself to cells in the body. and enters them. Officials are not sure if it originated in the UK, Vallance added. But by December, it said it was causing more than 60% of infections in London.
Italy and South Africa also report a new variant
Italy said on Sunday that it has detected a new strain of coronavirus with mutations in a person who recently returned from the UK. “The patient and his partner returned from the UK several days ago, landing at Rome’s Fiumicino airport. Now they are isolated and have observed, together with relatives and close contacts, all the procedures prohibited by the health authorities, “said a statement from the Italian ministry, according to Sputnik.
South Africa also announced that a new variant of the Covid-19 virus is fueling a resurgence of the disease in the country, with increased numbers of confirmed cases, hospitalizations and deaths. According to country officials, the new variant, known as 501.V2, is dominant among new confirmed infections in the current wave from South Africa.
.
