The UK will close its borders to travelers from South America and Portugal on Friday as concerns are growing over a new Covid-19 variant that researchers say may have emerged in the Brazilian Amazon, a region struggling to cope with the disease to offer.
The variant, which bears similarities to the highly contagious species identified in Great Britain and South Africa, was reported in Japan earlier this month among a group of travelers who recently returned from the Amazon and were also responsible for a case of reinfection in the vast Brazilian state of Amazonas, researchers say.
The UK Department of Transport said on Thursday it would deny entry early Friday to anyone who has traveled from or through South America and Portugal in the past 10 days. The ban also applies to Panama and the Portuguese-speaking African nation of Cape Verde.
“The decision to ban travel from these destinations follows the discovery of a new coronavirus variant first identified in Brazil, which may have spread to countries with strong travel connections to Brazil,” the department said Thursday.
Infectious disease specialists in the Amazon have long feared that the badly affected area could become a breeding ground for mutations of the virus as the local health system is on the verge of collapse.