Israel and European countries banned flights from the UK on Sunday as the UK warns that a new coronavirus mutation is “out of control.” Israel, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria and Italy have banned flights from the UK and Germany is considering the same move for flights from the UK and South Africa, where another virus mutation has been discovered. UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock told Sky News that the new coronavirus variant is “deadly serious.” The Netherlands banned flights from the U.K. for at least the rest of the year while Belgium issued a flight ban for 24 hours starting at midnight and also halted train links to Britain, including the Eurostar. German officials were considering “serious options” regarding incoming flights from the U.K., but have not yet taken action. Austria said it would also halt flights from the U.K. but there were no immediate details on the timing of the ban, the Austrian news agency APA reported. The Czech Republic, meanwhile, imposed stricter quarantine measures from people arriving from the U.K. The five EU governments say their response comes in reaction to tougher measures imposed Saturday in London and surrounding areas by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. He immediately put those regions into a new Tier 4 level of restrictions, saying that a fast-moving new 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. “There’s no evidence to suggest it is more lethal or causes more severe illness,” Johnson said, or that vaccines will be less effective against it. Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said Sunday said he was issuing the flight ban for 24 hours starting at midnight “out of precaution.” “There are a great many questions about this new mutation and if it is not already on the mainland,” he said. He hoped to have more clarity by Tuesday. The World Health Organization tweeted late Saturday that, “We’re in close contact with U.K. officials on the new #COVID19 virus variant.” It promised to update governments and the public as more is learned about this variant. The new strain of coronavirus was identified in southeastern England in September and has been circulating in the area since, a WHO official told the BBC on Sunday. “What we understand is that it does have increased transmissibility, in terms of its ability to spread,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s technical lead on COVID-19. Studies are under way to better understand how fast it spreads and and whether “it’s related to the variant itself, or a combination of factors with behavior,” she said. She said the strain had also been identified in Denmark, the Netherlands and Australia, where there was one case that did not spread further. “The longer this virus spreads, the more opportunities it has to change,” she said. “So we really need to do everything we can right now to prevent spread, and minimizing that spread will reduce the chances of it changing.” Susan Hopkins of Public Health England said that while the variant has been circulating since September, it wasn’t until this week that officials felt they had enough evidence to declare that it has higher transmissibility than other circulating viruses. The strain has spread to other parts of […]
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