BERLIN (AP) – Several countries of the European Union banned flights from the UK and Germany on Sunday to restrict such flights to ensure that a new strain of the coronavirus sweeping through southern England does not gain a strong foothold. the continent.
The Netherlands banned flights from the UK for at least the rest of the year, while Belgium issued a flight ban for 24 hours from midnight and also stopped train connections to Great Britain, including the Eurostar. Austria and Italy said they would stop flights from the UK but did not provide details on the timing of the ban.
Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said on Twitter that the government is preparing the measure “to protect Italians” against the new coronavirus variant. About two dozen flights were expected to arrive in Italy on Sunday, most in the northern region of Lombardy, as well as Veneto and Lazio, including Venice and Rome respectively.
German officials meanwhile considered “serious options” regarding inbound flights from the UK, but have not yet taken any action.
The Czech Republic, meanwhile, imposed tougher quarantine measures for people coming from the UK
EU governments say they are acting in response to tougher measures imposed on Saturday in London and the surrounding area by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. He immediately placed those regions in 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 causing the rapid spread of new infections in London and southern England. .
“There is no indication that it is more deadly or causes more serious disease,” Johnson said, or that vaccines will be less effective against it.
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said on Sunday that he issued the flight ban for 24 hours from midnight “as a precaution”.
“There are a lot of questions about this new mutation and if there isn’t one on the mainland yet,” he said. He hoped to have more clarity on Tuesday.
The World Health Organization tweeted late Saturday, “We are in close contact with UK officials about the new # COVID19 virus variant.” It promised to keep governments and the public informed as more is learned about this variant.
The new strain of the coronavirus was identified in southeast England in September and has been circulating in the area ever since, a WHO official told the BBC on Sunday.
“What we understand is that it has increased transmissibility, in terms of its dispersibility,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s technical leader on COVID-19.
Studies are underway to better understand how quickly it spreads and whether “it is related to the variant itself, or a combination of factors with behavior,” she said.
She said the species 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 chances it has to change,” she said. “So now we really need to do everything we can to prevent spread, and minimizing that spread will reduce the likelihood of change.”
Susan Hopkins of Public Health England said that although the variant has been circulating since September, it wasn’t until this week that officials felt they had enough evidence to state that it has greater transmissibility than other circulating viruses. The species has spread to other parts of the UK, but in smaller quantities than London and surrounding areas, she told the BBC.
Germany has not yet imposed a ban, but is also considering restricting or halting flights from the UK, the dpa news agency reported on Sunday. A senior German official told Dpa that restrictions on flights from Britain are a “serious option”.
Europe has been trapped by new infections and deaths from a resurgence of the virus this fall, and many countries have re-imposed a series of restrictions to control their outbreaks.
Britain has seen more than 67,000 deaths in the pandemic, the second highest confirmed toll in Europe, after Italy.
Johnson closed all non-essential stores, hairdressers, gyms and swimming pools on Saturday and told the British to reorganize their vacation plans. Household mixing is now no longer allowed in Tier 4 areas, including London, and only essential travel is allowed in and out of such areas. In the rest of England, people are only allowed to meet in Christmas bells for one day instead of the five days scheduled.
A video also appeared on Saturday showing crowds of people rushing to London’s train stations, apparently a flight to places in the UK with less stringent coronavirus restrictions before the new rules took effect. Health Minister Matt Hancock said that “those scenes were totally irresponsible.”
“We in the government have a responsibility, of course, but so does everyone,” he said. “The plea I have is that people will play their part. Only by acting – all of us – can we get this under control. “
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Raf Casert in Brussels, Sylvia Hui in London and Karel Janicek in Prague contributed to reports.