Monday 21 December 2020 - 5:59am
Commuters wearing a face mask travel on TfL Victoria Line underground train carriages.
Tolga Akmen / AFP
AFP
LONDON - European countries banned flights from the UK on Sunday and the WHO called for stronger containment measures as the British government warned that a potent new variant of the virus was out of control .
As the World Health Organization urged its European members to strengthen measures against a new variant of COVID-19 circulating in Britain, the Netherlands imposed a ban on UK flights from 6:00 am (0500 GMT) on Sunday and Belgium said it would follow suit from midnight with ban on planes and trains from the UK.
Countries begin to seal off UK amid new coronavirus variant surge financialexpress.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from financialexpress.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
New Year, new strain? Faster Covid mutation sends world into panic, countries ban flights from UK |
New Year, new strain? Faster Covid mutation sends world into panic, countries ban flights from UK | Key points
From travel bans to stringent restrictions likely to remain in place during the holidays, new mutant variants of the novel coronavirus reported from the UK and South Africa have triggered a slew of measures across the world aimed at avoiding a resurgence of Covid-19.
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[REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE] (Photo Credits: PTI)
HIGHLIGHTS
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France bans travel from UK as new virus strain out of control africaleader.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from africaleader.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Tolga Akmen - WPA Pool/Getty Images
Millions of people in England could remain under the strictest lockdown measures until Easter, a senior scientific advisor to the UK government has warned.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday placed over 17 million people in London and other parts of southeastern England under a strict new Tier 4 system of stay-at-home orders and travel restrictions.
Asked whether the new restrictions could last until April, the government advisor Neil Ferguson on Monday said possibly and added: It s not looking optimistic right now.
Ferguson said it was a race between the coronavirus vaccine and the new variant of the virus that is spreading in southeastern England.