In Italy, a positive for the “English variant” of Covid. “He is in solitary confinement with his partner who has returned to Fiumicino from the United Kingdom”

Also in Italy a positive person has been identified to “English variant”Of Sars Cov 2 discovered in London. A note from the Ministry of Health, in the evening, announced that the Scientific Department of the Celio Military Polyclinic he sequenced the genome of the virus “coming from a person who tested positive with the variant found in the last few weeks in Great Britain. The patient, and his partner returned in recent days from the United Kingdom with a flight landed at the airport of Fiumicino, are in isolation and have followed, together with other family members and close contacts, all procedure established “.

The variant is worrying all of Europe, with the major capitals, including Rome, which on Sunday decided to block flights to and from Great Britain from Sunday midnight until January 6th. “We choose the path of the maxim caution“, Explained the Minister of Health, Roberto Speranza. The mutated virus “does not seem to be doing more damage on the individual ”, underlines Speranza,“ but yes spread faster and this means more infections and it is a problem “. Fortunately “it would seem that vaccines which are in the terminal phase and which should be approved by theMom December 21 can work equally also on this variant. But it is information that we still have to render more solid“.

The Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio, who was the first to announce the blocking of flights, explained: “This variant of the virus, I say without creating alarmism, accelerates the contagion capacity, is capable of increasing the Rt index by 0.5%. So we closed the flights. We need the utmost precaution. Our priority is to protect Italy and our compatriots ”.

The tampon obligation returns upon arrival from the UK – In the meantime “whoever is already in Italy, coming from that territory, is required to undergo buffer antigenic or molecular by contacting the prevention departments “. Moreover, the obligation was in force until 9 December, while from the day after, according to the Dpcm of 3 December, those who entered our country had to show the negative result of a swab carried out in the previous 48 hours. Now the test is back on arrival and the rule applies to all people who have passed through in the last 14 days UK, even if asymptomatic. The 110 passengers who landed in the afternoon a Fiumicino with a flight from London Heathrow, probably the last one before the suspension, they will take the test at the airport. Any swab-positive passengers will be transferred to the Spallanzani for the monitoring and study of the possible variant of Covid.

Precautionary stop to flights – The measure precautionary stop for incoming and outgoing flights aims to “understand the scope of problem”And it arrived“ after a confrontation with ours scientists“. Now, he continued Hope, experts “will have to understand the situation, contact with WHO and British government. The only information we have is this on the ability to spread faster ”. However, the minister does not hide the fears about the mutation discovered in England, which “is worrying and will have to be investigated by our scientists”. However, “the maximum is indispensable coordination European Union on measures, only uniform and shared decisions can help us better manage the situation outside the emergency of these first hours ”.

As for the presence of the variant in ItalySperanza explained that he “gave the input to our offices to verify as much as possible the genomic sequences also in our country” to verify it. On the other hand, he admits, “the risk is possible. If the virus came from the China, it is very likely that it can also come from Great Britain. In these hours therefore we must do all the checks of the case and also carefully check what happens in ours country“.

The Enac notice – In application of the Minister’s ordinance, the National Civil Aviation Authority in the evening issued a “Notam (Notice to Airmen)” with whichban on air traffic from the United Kingdom (Great Britain and Northern Ireland), starting from today and until 6 January 2021. ENAC invites passengers with flights booked to and from these destinations to contact their airline.

Italians arriving with the last flights – Many Italians in London had already planned to return for Christmas and managed to leave the British capital by taking the last flights to Italy before the blockade. After being subjected to tampons, at Fiumicino airport, the first passengers, mostly Italians, of the 110 arriving on British flight 560 from London began to go out and collect their baggage after 5pm. But the latest arrival in Italy from Great Britain after the stop is a Ryanair to Pescara with 136 passengers on board. The plane had already taken off when the minister signed the order. In the evening, three flights from London to Fiumicino were canceled while the last flights to depart, in the afternoon, for the London capital are Alitalia, Vueling and British, between 15 and 17.45. From Ciampino the last Ryanair flight took off at 2 pm.

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