New Delhi (NVI): European countries have started suspending all incoming air travel from the UK amid mounting concern over a new strain of Covid-19.
Germany, France and Ireland are the latest to have suspended travel, announcing the moves shortly after Austria, Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium made similar decisions.
Bulgaria has also suspended travel from Britain.
The new variant of coronavirus apparently native to Britain is up to 70 per cent more transmissible than the original and has spread quickly in London and south-east England.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday introduced a new tier four level of restrictions for those areas, scrapping a planned relaxation of rules over the Christmas period for millions of people.
Further afield, the Czech Republic has imposed stricter quarantine measures for people arriving from Britain.
In addition to this, Iran’s health ministry has ordered flights from Britain to be suspended for two weeks. Israel said it was barring entry to foreign citizens travelling from Britain, Denmark and South Africa. Kuwait has added Britain to a list of “high-risk” nations and banned flights.
Furthermore, Colombia has suspending flights to and from the UK starting Monday and Chile has introduced mandatory two-week quarantine for anyone who visited the UK in the last fortnight.
Turkey and Morocco have announced they will be suspending air travel from the UK, while the official Saudi Press Agency reports Saudi Arabia is also suspending international flights for one week.
Canada has halted flights from the UK for 72 hours.
-CHK
