A growing list of European Union nations and Canada barred travel from the UK and others were considering similar action, in a bid to block a new strain of coronavirus sweeping across southern England from spreading to the continent. France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Ireland and Bulgaria all announced restrictions on UK travel, hours after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that Christmas shopping and gatherings in southern England must be cancelled because of rapidly spreading infections blamed on the new coronavirus variant. Johnson immediately put those regions into a strict new Tier 4 restriction level, upending Christmas plans for millions.
France to suspend all travel from UK for 48 hours
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Netherlands bans flights from UK over new coronavirus strain
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Tier 4 restrictions may be necessary for ‘couple of months’ says UK health secretary
People shopping on Oxford Street in central London before the new restrictions come in (PA)
Sun, 20 Dec, 2020 - 11:44
Gavin Cordon, PA Whitehall Editor
Restrictions which forced millions of people across the UK to tear up their Christmas plans may have to remain for “the next couple of months”, British Health Secretary Matt Hancock has suggested.
In England, Boris Johnson effectively cancelled Christmas for almost 18 million people in London, south-eastern and eastern England as the region was put into a new two-week lockdown from Sunday.
Under the new Tier 4 rules non-essential shops – as well as gyms, cinemas, casinos and hairdressers – have to stay shut and people are limited to meeting one other person from another household in an outdoor public space.
Germany mulls ban of SA flights over virus fears Updated
AFP
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Germany is considering banning flights from Britain and South Africa to prevent the spread of new, more infectious coronavirus strain circulating in the two countries, a source close to the German health ministry told AFP on Sunday.
Source: Pixabay
Following the example of the Netherlands, where a ban on all passenger flights from the UK came into effect on Sunday, the German government was considering a similar move as a serious option for flights from both Britain and South Africa, the source said.
A health ministry spokesman said the government in Berlin was monitoring developments in Britain very closely and working at high pressure to evaluate the new information and data regarding the new strain.