THE HAGUE (AP) – The Netherlands is banning flights from the UK for at least the rest of the year in an effort to stop a new strain of coronavirus sweeping through southern England from reaching its shores.
The ban went into effect Sunday morning and the government said it was responding to tougher measures imposed by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in London and surrounding areas on Saturday. The Netherlands said it will “review with other countries of the European Union the possibilities of curbing imports of the virus from the United Kingdom”.
Johnson said a rapidly evolving new variant of the virus, which 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,” the prime minister stressed, or that vaccines will be less effective against it.
The Dutch government already strongly advises its citizens not to travel unless absolutely necessary.
It was not immediately clear what the Dutch government intended with the ferries that travel between the UK and the Netherlands.
Britain has warned the World Health Organization that the new variant identified this week appears to be accelerating the spread of COVID-19, saying it accounted for about 60% of cases in the capital.
Viruses regularly mutate, and scientists have found thousands of different mutations in samples of the virus that causes COVID-19. But many of these changes have no effect on how easily the virus spreads or how severe the symptoms are.
Britain has seen more than 67,000 deaths in the pandemic, the second highest confirmed toll in Europe, after Italy. The Netherlands has registered more than 10,500 virus-related deaths.
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