[ad_1]
One by one, several European Union nations have banned flights from the UK and others were considering such action, all in the hope of preventing a new strain of coronavirus spreading across southern England from establishing a foothold. solid on the continent.
Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria and Italy announced restrictions on travel to the UK.
A government spokesman in Germany said the country is working on a regulation to restrict travel between Germany and Britain to protect the country from the new strain of the coronavirus.
The government said it was also in contact with its European partners about travel restrictions. It was not immediately clear when or for how long the restrictions would be.
READ MORE:
* The inside story of how Trump’s denial, mismanagement, and magical thinking led to the dark winter of the pandemic.
* Covid-19: American doctor one of the first kiwis to be immunized against the coronavirus
* Covid-19: everything you need to know about the new ‘mutant strain’
* Covid-19: UK announces new restrictions for parts of England as new strain of coronavirus spreads
Germany said it will also restrict travel to and from South Africa.
The Netherlands banned flights from the UK for at least the rest of the year, while Belgium issued a 24-hour flight ban starting at midnight and also stopped train links to Britain, including the Eurostar.
Austria and Italy said they would stop flights from the UK, but did not say exactly when it would take place.
Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said on Twitter that the government was preparing the ban “to protect Italians” from the new variant of the coronavirus. About two dozen flights were scheduled to arrive in Italy on Sunday (local time), most in the northern Lombardy region, but also to Venice and Rome.
Peter Dejong / AP
A traveler wearing a face mask checks flight departures at Schiphol Airport near Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The Netherlands is banning flights from the UK for the rest of the year in a bid to ensure that a new strain of the Covid-19 virus in Britain does not reach its shores.
The Czech Republic imposed stricter quarantine measures on people arriving from Great Britain. An EU official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks were still ongoing, said the European Commission was in contact with member states about the rapidly developing situation.
Just days before Christmas, the high-speed train operator Eurostar canceled its trains between London, Brussels and Amsterdam from Monday, but kept the trains operating on the London to Paris route.
EU governments said they were taking action in response to tougher measures imposed on Saturday by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in and around London. Johnson immediately put those regions on a new level of restriction of Level 4, which changed the Christmas plans for millions.
Johnson said a new fast-moving variant of the virus that is 70% more transmissible than existing strains appears to be driving the rapid spread of new infections in London and southern England. But he added that “there is no evidence to suggest that it is more lethal or causes more serious disease,” or that vaccines are less effective against it.
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said on Sunday that he was issuing the flight ban for 24 hours starting at midnight “out of a precaution.”
“There are a lot of questions about this new mutation,” he said, adding that he hoped to have more clarity by Tuesday.
The World Health Organization 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 circulating 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.
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.
He said the strain had also been identified in Denmark, the Netherlands and Australia, where there was one case that did not spread further.
“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, and minimizing that spread will reduce the chances of it changing.”
Peter Dejong / AP
EU governments said they were taking action in response to tougher measures imposed on Saturday by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in and around London.
Circulating ‘since September’
Susan Hopkins of Public Health England 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 it has higher transmissibility than other circulating coronaviruses.
Germany has yet to specify a ban, but is also considering limiting or stopping flights from the UK, the dpa news agency reported on Sunday.
Europe has been hit this fall by rising new infections and deaths due to the resurgence of the virus, and many nations have reimposed a series of restrictions to control its outbreaks.
Britain has seen more than 67,000 deaths in the pandemic, the second highest confirmed figure in Europe after Italy. Europe as a whole has recorded nearly 499,000 deaths from the virus, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally that experts believe is an undercount, due to limited testing and missing cases.
Meanwhile, the European Medicines Agency will meet on Monday to approve the first Covid-19 vaccine for the 27 nations of the European Union, bringing vaccines closer to millions of EU citizens.
The vaccine made by the German pharmaceutical company BioNTech and the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer is already used in the United States, Great Britain, Canada and other countries.
The EMA advanced its evaluation of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine a week after strong pressure from EU governments, especially Germany, which has said that after the approval of the EMA it could start vaccinating citizens next Sunday.
In an urgent address to the nation on Saturday, Johnson closed all nonessential shops, barber shops, gyms and swimming pools and told the British to reorganize their vacation plans.
Indoor home mixing is now not allowed in Level 4 areas, including London, and only essential travel is allowed in and out of the area. In the rest of England, people will be able to gather in Christmas bubbles for just one day instead of the planned five.
After speaking, videos surfaced showing crowds of people rushing towards London train stations, apparently running towards places in the UK with less stringent coronavirus restrictions before the new rules went into effect. Health Secretary Matt Hancock called those scenes “totally irresponsible.”
“We in the government, of course, have a responsibility, but also each person has it,” he said. “My plea is that people do their part. Because it is only by acting, all of us, that we can get this under control. “
While Hancock insisted officials had acted “very quickly and decisively,” critics said Britain’s Conservative government should have moved against rising infections and hospitalizations much earlier.
“The alarm bells have been ringing for weeks, but the prime minister decided to ignore them,” said Keir Starmer, leader of the opposition Labor Party. “It is an act of gross negligence on the part of a prime minister who, once again, has been caught behind the curve.”
