New strain of coronavirus: emergency meeting of …

Following the decision of several European countries to suspend flights to the United Kingdom, All European Union (EU) ambassadors will attend an urgent meeting in Brussels on Monday analyze possible measures following the appearance of a new strain of coronavirus which could be highly contagious.

Representatives of the 27 Member States will meet under the Union’s Integrated Political Crisis Response Mechanism, designed to provide a rapid response to such situations, as confirmed by an EU official quoted by the Press Agency AFP.

For its part, the Italian Ministry of Health announced on Sunday the detection in the country of a case of the new coronavirus previously recorded in the United Kingdom. According to local chronicles, the agency noted that the virus had been detected in a patient who had recently returned from UK territory and said the person and his partner are now in isolation.

United Kingdom, isolated

Austria, Belgium, France, Ireland, Italy and the Netherlands, among other European countries, have already announced the suspension of air links, and in some cases sea and rail, with the Kingdom -United.

Likewise, Germany and other countries were analyzing the possibility of having similar measures, which in most cases will be in effect from midnight and for 48 hours, while the threat of the new strain is assessed and a response is coordinated.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced yesterday that London and the south-east of England are set to return to strict lockdown due to the new variant of the virus, which he says could be 70% more contagious, data shows preliminary.

The prime minister and government medical officials said there was no indication that this new variant was more deadly or immune to the vaccines that are starting to be used.