With a surge in the number of COVID-19 cases in the United Kingdom, six countries have temporarily suspended flights with the UK amid fears of a new strain of the virus moves across southern England.
The Associated Press reported that Austria, Belgium, Germany, Israel, Italy and the Netherlands had halted travel to the UK except for official reasons, a move that came shortly after the British prime minister announced a new wave of restrictions for southern England.
Italy has also banned entry from anyone who was in the UK over the past 14 days, according to the news service, while British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is warning of a new, more easily transmissible strain of COVID-19 afflicting the country.
“Given the early evidence we have on this new variant of the virus, and the potential risk it poses, it is with a heavy heart that I must tell you we cannot continue with Christmas as planned,” Johnson tweeted.
Meanwhile, US President-elect, Joe Biden’s surgeon general nominee Vivek Murthy said yesterday that the new, more contagious coronavirus strain reported in the UK does not appear to be any deadlier.
“This news from the UK appears to be about a new strain of the virus that’s more transmissible, more contagious than the virus we’ve seen prior to this,” Murthy, who was surgeon general in the Obama administration, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
