At least six countries have temporarily suspended flights to the UK on Sunday as the nation experiences an increase in new cases of COVID-19 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 stopped travel to the UK, except for official reasons, an action that came shortly after the British Prime Minister announced a new wave of restrictions on in the south of England.
Italy has also banned entry to anyone who has been in the UK for the past 14 days, according to the news service, while British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warns of a new variety of COVID-19 more easily transmitted than affects the country.
“Given the initial evidence we have about this new variant of the virus and the potential risk it poses, it’s with a heavy heart that I have to tell you that we can’t continue with Christmas as planned,” Johnson tweeted.
“We are sacrificing our chance to see loved ones this Christmas, so we are more likely to protect their lives so we can see them in future Christmases,” he continued.
We sacrifice our chance to see loved ones this Christmas, so we are more likely to protect their lives so we can see them in future Christmases. (3/3)
– Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) December 19, 2020
Labor leader Keir Starmer accused Johnson of delaying restrictions on meetings and shops of blinds and public places in response to the new wave of infections. The UK experienced a drop in the rate of new infections earlier this month, but in recent days the number has risen to previous levels. More than 67,000 people have now died across the UK due to COVID-19.
“Alarms have been sounding for weeks, but the prime minister chose to ignore them,” Starmer said, the AP reported. “It is an act of grave negligence on the part of a prime minister who, once again, has been caught behind the curve.”
President-elect Joe Biden
Joe BidenCHC urges Biden to choose Latinos to lead Department of Education, SBA: report that Louisiana’s elected representative hospitalized as a precaution for COVID-19 infection Biden and Netanyahu can carefully nurture US-Israel ties MOREcandidate for general surgeon, Vivek Murthy
Vivek MurthyDiumenge shows preview: US launches first doses of coronavirus vaccine; Congress closes stimulus deal Asian lawmakers look to Biden Labor Secretary Manchin, who says the bipartisan coronavirus relief bill will be introduced on Monday, said Sunday that the new most contagious coronavirus strain reported in the UK does not appear to be more deadly.
“This news from the UK seems to be about a new strain of the virus that is more communicable, more contagious than the virus we’ve seen before,” Murthy, who was a general surgeon for the Obama administration, told the NBC meeting the press. “” While it appears to be more transmissible, we still have no evidence that it is a more deadly virus for a person who acquires it. “
He added that there is also no evidence that coronavirus vaccines would be less effective against the new strain.