Berlin – A growing list of countries in the European Union on Sunday announced the trip was halted and others were considering similar action, preventing a new strain of coronavirus sweeping from spreading in southern England.
France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Ireland, and Bulgaria all announced restrictions on travel to Britain, with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announcing that Christmas shopping and celebrations in southern England were among the fastest-growing transitions. Johnson immediately put those areas under a strict new Tier 4 ban level, planning Christmas for millions.
France has opened the UK for 48 hours from midnight on Sunday. Banned all travel, including trucks transporting through the tunnel under the English Channel or from the port of Dover on the southern coast of England. French officials said it would take time to find a “general principle” on how to deal with the threat, but it threw the busy cross-channel route used by thousands of trucks into chaos.
Eurostar passenger trains from London, Paris, Brussels, and Amsterdam were also halted.
Germany said that all flights from Britain, except for cargo flights, were no longer allowed to start from midnight on Sunday. It was not immediately told how long the flight ban would last. Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Crew said he was issuing a 24-hour flight ban, “out of precaution”, starting at midnight. There are many of questions about this new mutation, he said
A senior Canadian government official told that Canada would also ban flights from the UK. Officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly before the formal announcement, said the ban would take effect from Monday. The official said that cargo flights would not be affected.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Saturday that a new version of the virus that is 70% more infectious than existing strains has appeared to increase the rapid spread of new infections in London and southern England in recent weeks. But he stressed that “there is no evidence to prove that it is more fatal or causes more serious disease,” or that the vaccines would be less effective for it.
On Sunday, British Health Secretary Matt Hancock added the alarm when he said the “new version is out of control.” The U.K. Reported 35,928 cases recorded a week earlier, nearly double that.
Germany, who holds the position of the rotating European Union president, called a special crisis meeting between the bloc’s 27 member states on Monday to coordinate the response to the news of the virus. The Netherlands also banned flights for at least the rest of the year. Ireland issued a 48-hour flight ban. Italy said it would block flights from U.6 to 6 January, and an order was signed on Sunday in the last 14 days.
The Czech Republic implemented stringent quarantine measures on people arriving from Britain. Beyond Europe, Israel also stated that it was banning flights from Britain, Denmark, and South Africa because they were the countries where the mutation is found.
The WHO tweeted late Saturday that it was “in close contact with US officials on the new # COVID19 virus version” and promised to update governments and the public has learned more.
A WHO official told the BBC on Sunday that the new strain was identified in southeastern England in September and has since spread to the region