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BERLIN A growing list of European Union nations and Canada barred travel from the U.K. on Sunday 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 U.K. travel, hours after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that Christmas shopping and gatherings in southern England must be canceled because of rapidly spreading infections blamed on the new coronavirus variant.
Johnson immediately placed those regions under a strict new Tier 4 restriction level, upending Christmas plans for millions.
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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 spokesperson 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.
Germany was in touch with its European partners, the spokesperson said.
Belgium similarly announced a ban on all flights and trains from the UK.
Updated: 8 p.m.
A growing list of European Union nations and Canada barred travel from the U.K. on Sunday 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 U.K. travel, hours after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that Christmas shopping and gatherings in southern England must be canceled because of rapidly spreading infections blamed on the new coronavirus variant.
France banned all travel from the U.K. for 48 hours from midnight Sunday, including trucks carrying freight via trains through the tunnel under the English Channel or on ferries from the port of Dover on England s south coast. French officials said the pause would buy time to find a “common doctrine” on how to deal with the threat, but it threw the busy cross-channel route used by thousand
The Straits Times
He suggests parts of England may be stuck under Tier 4 curbs until vaccine roll-out
A new variant of the pandemic SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is spreading rapidly in Britain.
PublishedDec 21, 2020, 5:00 am SGT
https://str.sg/JRJj
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2020-12-20 14:40:06 GMT2020-12-20 22:40:06(Beijing Time) Sina English
The Dutch government on Sunday announced a ban on flights carrying passengers from the United Kingdom (UK), following reports of a new strain of COVID-19 being detected in Britain. Pending further details and greater clarity on the situation in Britain, the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) advised the government that the risk of the new virus strain being introduced to the Netherlands should be minimized as much as possible by restricting travel from Britain. The ban will remain in place until January 1, 2021 at the latest. This strain of the virus is thought to spread more easily and more quickly and is also harder to detect, the Dutch government said in a press release. Sampling of a case in the Netherlands in early December revealed the same virus strain as that observed in the UK. Following the latest reports from the UK, this case is being investigated furthe