Posted in: 20/12/2020 – 13:51
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British Health Minister Matt Hancock said Sunday that the new strain of Corona virus that Prime Minister Boris Johnson previously talked about “has gone out of control.” The minister explained that quarantine procedures are the only way to control the situation. The Netherlands, Belgium and Kuwait have suspended flights from Britain, fearing that the new strain of the virus will reach their lands. Germany is considering banning its flights from Britain and South Africa for the same reason, and Spain is asking Brussels for a “coordinated” response from the European Union in this regard.
After the world was cheered by the start of the process of distributing anti-corona virus vaccines, the British Prime Minister announced Boris Johnson The decision to apply a new quarantine, marked by the emergence of a new strain of the deadly Corona virus. British Health Minister Matt Hancock, for his part, said Sunday that the new strain of Corona virus “has gone out of control.”
“Unfortunately, the new strain is out of control. We have to take back control of the situation and the only way to do that was to restrict social contact. It will be very difficult to keep it under control until a vaccine is distributed,” Hancock told Sky News.
On Saturday evening, Governor Boris Johnson’s government announced the re-imposition of lockdowns in London, the southeast and part of the east of England, forcing more than 16 million people to stay home and abandon traditional family meetings for Christmas.
Hancock added, “It is a huge challenge to distribute the vaccine to the population. This is what we will face in the next two months.”
The United Kingdom has informed the World Health Organization that the speed of spread of the new strain is “70%” stronger than the previous strain, according to Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Mutation of SARS-CoV-2 has previously been observed and reported around the world.
The government’s scientific advisor, Patrick Vallance, had indicated on Saturday that this new strain, in addition to its rapid spread, had also become the “dominant” form of the virus after it led to a “sharp increase” in cases that required hospitalization in December.
Netherlands
And the Netherlands decided Sunday Banning all flights Carrying passengers from the United Kingdom.
Belgium
Belgium will suspend flights and train traffic from Britain from midnight on Sunday (23:00 GMT) after the discovery of a new strain of the emerging corona virus spreading in part of British territory, according to a government official told AFP.
Prime Minister Alexandre de Crowe said in a statement to Belgian television “VRT” that the suspension period will be at least 24 hours.
Germany is considering banning flights from Britain and South Africa to prevent the spread of a new strain of the emerging corona virus, according to what a government source said on Sunday to Agence France-Presse.
The source pointed out that, like the Netherlands, where a ban on all flights from the United Kingdom came into effect on Sunday, the German government is considering taking a similar step as a “serious option” for flights from Britain and South Africa.
Italy
Italy will suspend flights coming from the United Kingdom due to the new Corona virus strain, according to Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio.
Di Maio wrote on his Facebook account, “The United Kingdom has issued a warning regarding a new form of Covid that is the result of a change in the virus. We, as a government, have a duty to protect the Italians and therefore (…) we will sign, with the Minister of Health, a decree to suspend flights with Britain. But no date has been set for the implementation of this measure.
Spain
Spain asked Brussels for a “coordinated” response from the European Union regarding the suspension of flights coming from the United Kingdom after the discovery of a new strain of Corona virus in this country, according to what the Spanish government announced on Sunday.
“The goal is to protect the rights of European citizens through coordination and avoiding taking unilateral measures,” a government statement said, noting that the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy announced separately the suspension of their flights.
Kuwait
The Kuwait Civil Aviation Authority said on Twitter that it had added the United Kingdom to its list of high-risk countries on Sunday, which means that all flights coming from them will be banned.
The European Commission did not immediately respond to the French news agency’s call to inquire about whether such a ban would be recommended to all European Union countries.
If the disruption to air and rail traffic continues until January, it could exacerbate the transport problems related to Brexit, as the UK leaves the European Union single market on December 31.
France 24 / AFP
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