Jubilee Post News & Views
Jubilee News Desk
After a new variant of the covid came to fore in UK, several countries have put a top on flights while a few more European countries are considering banning travel from the UK to prevent the spread of a more infectious variant of coronavirus.
Netherlands and Belgium have suspended flights. Trains to Belgium have also been stopped. Italy’s foreign minister has indicated his government plans to ban flights. France and Germany are among others reportedly planning similar action.
The new variant has spread quickly in London and south-east England and the health authorities there have reported its spreads faster. Prime Minister Boris Johnson introduced a new tier four level of restrictions, scrapping a planned relaxation of rules over the Christmas period for millions of people.
Top health officials said that there was no evidence the new variant was more deadly, or would react differently to vaccines, but it was proving to be up to 70% more transmissible. The World Health Organization says the same mutation has also been detected in the Netherlands, Denmark and Australia.
Within hours of the UK announcement on Saturday, the Netherlands said it would ban all passenger flights from the UK until New Year. Pending “greater clarity” on the situation in the UK, the Dutch government said that further “risk of the new virus strain being introduced to the Netherlands should be minimised as much as possible”.
It also said it would work with other European Union member states in the coming days to “explore the scope for further limiting the risk of the new strain of the virus being brought over from the UK”. Belgium is suspending flights and train arrivals from the UK from Monday.
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Italy’s Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said on his Facebook page that the government was about to sign a measure to suspend flights from the UK. In Germany, a health ministry official told that the government was also considering banning flights from the UK, and South Africa, where the variant has also been detected.
In Ireland, urgent government talks are being held and Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said he expected a decision soon. Austria is also planning a ban on flights from the UK.
