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EU officials are discussing a joint response to a new, more contagious variant of Covid-19 in the UK, which has triggered travel bans in many countries.
Canada and India have joined with European states in blocking flights from the UK, while rail services to Europe through the Channel Tunnel have been cut off.
The new variant is said to be up to 70% more transmissible, but there is no evidence that it is more deadly.
There is also no evidence to suggest that it reacts differently to vaccines.
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Two meetings are taking place in Brussels on Monday – one involving health ministers and the other with the EU crisis response team. But no decision is expected until Tuesday, when the EU ambassadors meet.
A French official told the BBC’s Gavin Lee they were desperate to reopen the borders “as safe as possible”, one of the options discussed being the obligation for British travelers – including truck drivers – to prove that they have recently undergone a negative Covid-19 test. .
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he had had an “excellent” conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron and wanted to find a solution “in a few hours”.
“I would like to stress that we in the UK fully understand the concerns of our friends about the new variant. But it is also true that the risks of transmission sitting alone in the cabin are very low. So we hope to make progress.” did he declare.
UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock earlier said the new variant was “out of control”, while Denmark, Italy and the Netherlands said they had already detected it.
Following the discovery of a case in Denmark, neighboring Sweden has banned all foreign travelers from going there.
Also on Monday, the EU medicines regulator approved the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for use in all 27 member states.
The vaccine is already being administered in the United Kingdom and the United States, and some European countries plan to start giving doses from December 27.
Which countries have acted and how?
France suspended all travel links, including freight trucks, with the UK for 48 hours from midnight (23:00 GMT) on Sunday. Thousands of trucks travel between countries every day.
Eurotunnel said it would suspend access to its Folkestone terminal for traffic bound for Calais. People booked to travel on Monday can get a refund. Trains will still run from Calais to Folkestone.
The Dover ferry terminal is now closed to all accompanied traffic leaving the UK until further notice due to French restrictions. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson chaired a meeting of the Cobra Emergency Committee to discuss the issue on Monday.
Other countries have taken different actions in response to the new variant of the virus:
- Germany, Poland, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Austria, Bulgaria, Romania, Malta, Croatia, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia all suspended flights from the UK
- One of the most popular holiday destinations for UK citizens, Spain, also suspended flights
- Italy blocked all flights from the UK until January 6, while the Netherlands bans all passenger flights from the UK until January 1 “at the latest”. Ferry passengers are also prohibited from arriving in the Netherlands from the UK, although freight may continue
- Belgium flights and trains interrupted from UK until the end of Tuesday
- Greece extended its quarantine period for travelers from the UK from three to seven days
image copyrightGetty Images- in the Republic of Ireland, flights from Britain are banned for at least 48 hours from midnight Sunday and people have been told not to “travel to Ireland by air or sea”. Freight ferry crossings will continue
- turkey temporarily banned all flights from the UK, as did Norway and Swiss
- Canada suspended entry on all passenger flights from the UK for 72 hours, starting at midnight (05:00 GMT). Passengers who arrived in Canada from the UK on Sunday would be “subject to secondary screening and increased measures, including increased scrutiny of quarantine plans,” he said.
- Russia suspends flights from the UK for a week
- India suspends flights from the UK from 11:59 p.m. (18:29 GMT) Tuesday until December 31
- Hong Kong, Israel, Iran, Croatia, Morocco and Kuwait introduces restrictions on travel to the UK
- In Latin America, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, The Savior and Peru all prohibited flights from the UK
- Saudi Arabia, Oman and Kuwait went even further, completely closing their borders for a week
What do we know about the new variant?
The new variant was first detected in September. In November, it accounted for around a quarter of cases in London. This reached almost two-thirds of cases in mid-December.
Three things come together, which means it attracts attention:
- It quickly replaces other versions of the virus
- It has mutations that affect a part of the virus that may be important
- Some of these mutations have already been shown in the lab to increase the virus’s ability to infect cells
All of these come together to build a case for a virus that can spread more easily. However, we do not have absolute certainty. New varieties can become more common just by being in the right place at the right time – like London.
This variant is exceptionally strongly mutated. The most likely explanation is that it occurred in a patient with a weakened immune system unable to overcome the virus.
There is no evidence yet to suggest that the variant makes the infection more deadly, and at least for now, the vaccines developed will almost certainly work against it.
However, if the virus changes in such a way as to avoid the full effect of the vaccine, then a “vaccine leak” occurs, and this is perhaps the most concerning.
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