HAGUE (AP) – The Netherlands is banning flights from the UK for at least the rest of the year to try to make sure a new strain of coronavirus crossing the south of England does not reach its shores.
The ban went into effect on Sunday morning and the government said it was reacting on Saturday to tougher measures imposed in London and surrounding areas by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The Netherlands said it would assess “with other European Union countries the possibilities of containing UK virus imports”.
Johnson said a new variant of the virus that moves quickly and is 70% more transmissible than existing strains appears to be driving the rapid spread of new infections in London and the south of England.
“There is no evidence to suggest that she is more lethal or causes more serious illness,” the prime minister stressed, or that vaccines will be less effective against her.
The Dutch government is already strongly advising its citizens not to travel unless absolutely necessary.
There was no immediate news of what the Dutch government intended to do about ferries traveling between the UK and the Netherlands.
Britain has alerted the World Health Organization that the new variant identified this week appears to be accelerating the spread of COVID-19, saying it accounts for 60% of cases in the capital.
Viruses mutate regularly and scientists have found thousands of different mutations among virus samples that cause COVID-19. But many of these changes have no effect on how easily the virus spreads or the severity of symptoms.
Britain has recorded more than 67,000 deaths in the pandemic, the second highest number confirmed in Europe after Italy. The Netherlands has recorded more than 10,500 virus-related deaths.
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