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Countries in Europe, including Ireland, have started banning travel to and from the UK after an increase in cases of a new, more contagious strain of coronavirus.
Ireland’s restrictions on flights and ferries will last an initial 48 hours before being reviewed during a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Sky News understands.
Several continental European countries are also imposing bans – Germany is the latest to announce restrictions.
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A police officer at Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport, which could soon ban visitors from the UK
A government spokesman said it was in contact with its European partners about the travel restrictions, but it was not immediately clear when or for how long they would last.
The Netherlands has banned flights for at least the rest of the year and will evaluate “with other nations of the European Union the possibilities of containing the importation of the virus from the United Kingdom.”
Italy’s Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio announced that restrictions were being imposed.
Belgium’s prime minister issued a ban for at least 24 hours while the situation was assessed.
Bulgaria will suspend flights to and from the UK at midnight until January 31.
Austria and the Czech Republic are also imposing new measures against UK flights, and Prague announced that people arriving in the country who have spent at least 24 hours on UK territory will now need to self-isolate.
European countries ban travel from the UK
Boris Johnson said the new fast-moving variant of the virus, which he added, is believed to be 70% more transmissible than existing strains, appears to be driving a rapid spread of new infections.
The prime minister put London and much of the South East, where the new strain is most prevalent, into a Level 4 lockdown over the Christmas period in a bid to get the disease back under control.
Viruses mutate regularly and scientists have found thousands of different mutations among samples of the virus that causes COVID-19.
But many of these changes have no effect on how easily the virus spreads or the severity of symptoms.
Britain has alerted the World Health Organization to the new variant identified this week, saying it accounts for around 60% of London cases.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock warned that the country faces a “huge challenge”, adding that the mutation was “out of control” and could see areas trapped at Level 4 until the UK’s most vulnerable have been vaccinated.
Dr Susan Hopkins of Public Health England said the new variant had spread to all regions of England, as well as parts of Scotland and Wales, but in smaller numbers.
He also said there was no evidence that it was causing a disproportionate number of hospital admissions.
Meanwhile, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) 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 in use in the US, Britain, Canada and other countries.
