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EU advises stopping air travel from southern Africa due to new strain
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The new strain has been detected in South Africa, where it has spread rapidly
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Fear in Europe about the new variant of the coronavirus detected in South Africa. The European Union aims to stop air travel from the southern African region amid growing concern for a new variant of covid-19 detected in South Africa, the head of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said in a tweet on Friday.
“The Commission will propose, in close coordination with the Member States, activate the emergency brake to stop air travel from the southern African region due to variant of concern B.1.1.529, “he said. The variant has a” very unusual constellation “of mutations, which are of concern because they could help it evade the body’s immune response and make it more transmissible, South African scientists say.
The United Kingdom and Israel have already been the first to announce this Thursday travel restrictions from various southern African countries due to the detection in South Africa of a new variant of covid-19 highly mutable and that it has spread rapidly in the country.
The Government of the United Kingdom has issued a statement in which it has reported that since this Friday flights from South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana, Eswutini and Zimbabwe are suspended, nations that are thus added to the red list that indicates the risk of coronavirus.
From early Sunday morning suspension will be lifted when a quarantine system is put into operation for travelers from these countries in hotel establishments for ten days.
In this way, British citizens arriving from these territories between noon on Friday and 4:00 am (local time) on Sunday they will have to quarantine at home for ten days, as well as PCR tests on the second and eighth day after arrival. Nationals who return after having set foot in the aforementioned countries at some point in the last ten days will also have to comply with this rule.
London has adopted these restrictions having declared the variant, B.1.1.529, Variant under investigation (VuI) by the Health Security Agency of the country considering that it “includes a large number of potentially biologically significant mutations (…) that can change the behavior of the virus in relation to vaccines, treatments and transmissibility.
“More research is required”, The Government has asserted that it has not registered cases of this strain in the country for the moment, it has reported in a statement.
For its part, the Government of Israel has included South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia and Eswatini on the list of countries whose travelers are prohibited from entering, the Prime Minister’s office, Naftali Bennett, pointed out after a special meeting.
Foreigners from these countries can no longer travel to Israel from those areas, and Israelis returning from there must be quarantined for up to 14 days in a coronavirus hotel. After a week they can leave if they test negative in a PCR test, while, if they refuse, they will have to remain in quarantine for two weeks in the accommodation.
The Spanish stock market falls 3.51%
The Spanish stock market sinks 3.51% in the early stages of this Friday, a journey in which it is affected by fear that the new variant of covid-19 detected in South Africa has awakened in the market, which is known at a time of strong expansion of the virus throughout the world.
At 9.15 the IBEX 35, the main Spanish selective it trades at 8,527.80 points after yielding that 3.51%.
The earnings of the year are reduced to 5.62%, while in the week ending today 2.58% is left.
The IBEX 35 is trading with all its values negative, although the collapse of the values linked to tourism and banking stands out.
Melia Hotels plummets 8.82%; Aena, 8.38%; Santander, 6.45%; Repsol, 6.38%, and Sabadell, 6.28%.
IAG and Amadeus are de-listed.
BBVA also loses 4.49%; Telefónica, 4.20%; Inditex, 3.22%, and Iberdrola, 2.22%.
Outside the IBEX 35, Airbus leaves 13.01%.
In the rest of europe the main markets have also opened with significant declines due to the fear of this variant, identified as B.1.1.529, and the first cases of which have been reported in South Africa, Botswana and Hong Kong.
Related news
As a consequence, many countries have decided ban flights from six African countries as of today, South Africa among them, faced with the spread of this variant.
The discovery of the new variant is known in a moment in which coronavirus infections are increasing strongly around the world.
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