The UK has closed the border with Latin America …

The government of United Kingdom announced this Thursday on ban on flights from Portugal and fourteen South American countries, including Argentina, to try to prevent the spread of a new variant of the coronavirus detected in Brazil.

UK Transport Minister Grant Shapps has said arrivals will be suspended from this morning of Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela, as well as those of Portugal and Cape Verde.

In the case of Portugal, included in the list “due to its close travel links with Brazil”, there will be an exception for the transport of essential goods.

Meanwhile, UK and Irish citizens and foreigners with residency rights will still be able to travel but will be required to self-isolate for 10 days upon return, said the official.

From this Monday, in addition, people arriving in the UK must show a negative test taken within 72 hours of travel. Although the start of this measure was announced for Friday, “we have put in place a grace period during the weekend, so that passengers can have a little more time to access the tests they are performing. need them to comply with our requirements, ”said a spokesperson for the Ministry of Health.

Concern about new variants

The decision was announced on Thursday, after a cabinet meeting in which information provided by experts from the Advisory Group on New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats (Nervtag) was discussed.

This Wednesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was “very concerned” by the new transfer. “Three days ago they warned him against the Brazilian variant. We do not yet know if this variant could interfere with the vaccination program. Why is he not taking immediate action as a precautionary measure? Labor MP Yvette Cooper asked him.

The president’s response anticipated, in part, the measures announced on Thursday: “We are taking extra steps to ensure that people from Brazil are screened, and even to detain those from Brazil.Johnson responded Wednesday.

Cancellation of flights to prevent the spread of these mutations which have recently appeared in different parts of the world is a measure which is increasingly being applied in more countries.

Besides Argentina, several countries in Central and South America have already restricted travel from the UK, including Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala and Panama.

No evidence on vaccine mortality and efficacy

There is still no information on the effectiveness of existing vaccines compared to the new Brazilian variant. Nor of the greater or lesser mortality that this mutation could imply for humans.

According to the chief scientist of the British government, Sir Patrick Vallance, the Brazilian variant contains “a change of genetic code, in position 484, which changes part of the protein, changes the shape of the protein a bit. However, he argued, ‘there is no evidence’ that any variant that is emerging in the world ‘is more deadly’ than those that predominated in 2020.

“There is no evidence with any of these variants that it makes the disease worse. in itself. So the changes that we see with the variants are largely related to the increase in transmission, it makes it easier to move from one person to another, so it makes it easier to take into account, ”he explained. . .