Many Countries Blocked All Flights from UK Due To New Variants of COVID-19

The European Union officials are currently in discussion over a joint responsive measure towards recently discovered infectious new variants of COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, which has initiated a travel ban from multiple countries across the world.

India and Canada, along with several other nations from the European continent, have started to cancel flights that were scheduled to come from the United Kingdom, while the train service that was bound towards Europe via the Channel Tunnel has also been halted to travel further. These drastic restrictive measures have been taken to limit and prevent further transmission of the new variants of COVID-19 diagnosed into other surrounding regions.

Travel ban from the United Kingdom

The new variants of COVID-19 viral infection are said to be more than 70% human to human transmission, but none of the evidence collected states that the strain would be more deadly than the previously diagnosed. Also, there has been no data collected yet that suggests that the new variants of COVID-19 would react differently with the recently developed coronavirus vaccines, which are currently being provided for mass consumption across the United States and the United Kingdom.

According to the Transport Minister of France, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari stated that the newly established protocol had been agreed upon within a couple of hours during a meeting with the European council with government representatives in an attempt to ensure smooth transportation movement to and from the United Kingdom could be restored without a further spread of the new variants of COVID-19 infectious pathogen.

There is a further requirement in Brussels for more synchronized responsiveness partly after the diagnosis of a new variants of COVID-19 was due to as the European Union felt during the initial months of the coronavirus pandemic that all of its member states should adopt an approach of ‘every country for itself’, which consequently threatened the main aim of the formation of European co-operation.

The health secretary of the United Kingdom Matt Hancock said that the new variants of COVID-19 has become out of control across the region while neighboring countries including the Netherlands, Italy, and Denmark have said in a public statement that they have also been able to detect and diagnosed the new strain of the deadly viral infection in numerous people across their countries.

The European Union medicines regulator has been expected to approve the coronavirus Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to be safely used for mass consumption in all 27 states across Europe. The vaccine has already been administered to more than a million individuals across the US and UK, due to which the European Medicines Agency (EMA) would be meeting a week earlier than their previously scheduled meeting to discuss the distribution plans and protocols.

If the entire project receives the green light for their project approval, the European Commission will follow up on Wednesday, and the distribution of the vaccine would begin in some of the states in the European Union from Sunday, which would help in preventing further community transmission of the new variants of COVID-19 detected initially in the United Kingdom.

Countries across Europe and their reactions

All travel link roads, including freight lorries, have been shut down for 48 hours from France towards the United Kingdom in an attempt to localize the new variants of COVID-19 within the United Kingdom. Normally, thousands of freight lorries move between both countries every single day.

In a public statement, Eurotunnel stated that they would be suspending all public access towards their Folkstone terminal for all traffic that is directed towards Calais. Those individuals that have booked their flights to the United Kingdom on Monday would be provided with a refund as compensation for the cancellation of their flight in a preventive measure to prevent the further spread of new variants of COVID-19.

Multiple countries located in Europe have now suspended all flights destined to and from the United Kingdom, until further notice, while Italy has canceled all scheduled flights from the UK till January 6, and the Netherlands have banned all commercial flights till January 1.

Those passengers that would be traveling via ferry boats would also be not allowed to enter the Netherlands, although the freight lorries can continue their travel without any restrictions as there is a limited chance of further transmission of the new variants of COVID-19 that could possibly result in another wave of nationwide lockdown.

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