More countries joined the list of nations that temporarily suspended UK travel on Monday after British authorities moved to shut down parts of the economy and public life in response to a new variety of COVID-19 that s ‘spread more rapidly in England.
Argentina, France, Canada, Ireland, Chile, Colombia, Hong Kong, Estonia, Poland, Norway, Turkey and Latvia have banned some or all travel from the UK for various periods of time, according to various news sources, joining to a handful of nations that made similar decisions over the weekend. Travel between the US and the UK has not stopped.
Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Brett Giroir told ABC on Sunday this week that he did not believe the virus would overwhelm UK capabilities.
“I read British medical journals this morning, up to 20 per cent of cases in a county, other than that it’s very low and we don’t know it’s more dangerous,” Giroir said. “I don’t think there’s any cause for alarm right now.”
However, “anything is possible,” he added to CNN on Monday.
Officials from the Japanese and South Korean governments also told Reuters that they were monitoring the situation in the UK, but had not yet moved to ban flights.
Other countries have decided to tighten travel restrictions with the UK without imposing a formal ban. Travelers arriving in the Czech Republic from the UK will face forty to ten days and currently only Portuguese citizens can travel to and from the UK, which has banned the departure of anyone living in the UK. a region where there are some of the highest COVIDs. 19 differences have been reported.
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson, moved over the weekend to order the closure of stores before the Christmas holidays, a move he said was in response to the new rapid-spread strain. The country reports the highest rate of new cases of COVID-19, and nearly 36,000 new confirmed infections were recorded on Sunday.
“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