At least six countries have temporarily suspended flights with the UK on Sunday as the country is experiencing an increase in new COVID-19 cases and a new strain of the virus is moving across southern England.
The Associated Press reported that Austria, Belgium, Germany, Israel, Italy and the Netherlands had halted all trips to the UK, except for official reasons, a move that came shortly after the British Prime Minister announced a new wave of restrictions on southern England.
Italy has also banned access to anyone who has been in the UK for the past 14 days, according to the news service, while British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is warning of a new, more easily transmissible strain of COVID-19 hitting the country.
“Given the early evidence we have on this new variant of the virus, and the potential risk it poses, I have to say with a heavy heart that we cannot go ahead with Christmas as planned,” tweeted Johnson.
“We are sacrificing our chance to see loved ones this Christmas so we have a better chance of protecting their lives so we can see them on future Christmas days,” he continued.
We are sacrificing our chance to see loved ones this Christmas so we have a better chance of protecting their lives so we can see them on future Christmas days. (3/3)
– Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) December 19, 2020
The head of the Labor Party, Keir Starmer, accused Johnson of being slow to introduce restrictions on gatherings and shutter shops and public places in response to the new wave of infections. The UK saw a decline in the number of new infections earlier this month, but in recent days the number has risen to earlier highs. In the UK, more than 67,000 people have now died from COVID-19.
“The alarm bells have been ringing for weeks, but the prime minister chose to ignore them,” Starmer said, the AP reported. “It is an act of gross negligence on the part of a prime minister who is once again behind the bend.”
Elected president Joe Biden
Joe BidenCHC Urges Biden to Elect Latinos as Head of Education Department, SBA: Louisiana Rep.-elect Report Hospitalized as Precautionary Measure for COVID-19 Infection Biden and Netanyahu May Carefully Maintain US-Israeli Ties MOREthe overall nominated surgeon, Vivek Murthy
Vivek MurthySunday Shows Preview: US Rolls Out First Doses of Coronavirus Vaccine; Congress closes stimulus deal Asian lawmakers set sights on Biden’s Labor secretary Manchin says bipartisan coronavirus bill will be revealed Monday MORE, said Sunday that the new, more contagious strain of coronavirus reported in the UK does not appear to be more deadly.
“This news from the UK appears to be about a new strain of the virus that is more transmissible and contagious than the virus we’ve seen before,” said Murthy, who was surgeon general in the Obama administration, on NBC’s. press.” “While it appears to be more transmissible, we have no evidence yet that this is a deadlier virus to someone who acquires it.”
He added that there is also no evidence that coronavirus vaccines would be any less effective against the new strain.