China halts UK flights over concerns of new coronavirus strain
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Considering the risk of the new coronavirus strain , China has
halted flights to and from Britain and will adjust its restrictive
measures as the situation develops, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman
Wang Wenbin said on Thursday.
A woman pulls a suitcase past the Christmas tree on the concourse of Waterloo Station in central London, Sunday, Dec. 20, 2020. (File photo: AP)
China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) will halt all passenger flights from the UK starting at midnight, local health officials said Monday.
Several European countries halt UK flights over fears of mutant coronavirus
Passengers
wearing face masks stand at the Zaventem International Airport as
Belgium eases restrictions aimed to contain the spread of the
coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, near Brussels, Belgium June 15,
2020. (Photo: Agencies)
LONDON -- A number of European
countries on Sunday began to ban flights from Britain following the
emergence of a highly infectious variant of coronavirus.
It has
thrown into chaos the Christmas plans of hundreds of thousands of people
in Britain and Europe for aiming to spend the holidays with families
and friends on either side of the English Channel.
A domino effect
of travel restrictions was growing amid rising concern over the mutant
strain of COVID-19 that has effectively plunged London and other parts
of Britain into the new Tier Four restrictions over Christmas, the
London-based Evening Standard newspaper reported.
The Netherlands became the first major European country to announce a ban on flights, followed by neighboring Belgium which also halted Britain-bound trains using the Channel Tunnel. Austria and Italy also followed suit.
The
list was expected to quickly grow with France and Germany also mulling
grounding flights to and from Britain. Britain's neighbor Ireland is
expected to restrict flights and ferries.
(File photo: CFP)
Eurostar announced it
was canceling trains between London, Brussels and Amsterdam from Monday,
but the train operator said Sunday that trains were continuing to
operate on the London to Paris route.
Scottish First Minister
Nicola Sturgeon effectively closed the border with England, announcing
people could not enter or leave Scotland. Police Scotland said it had
doubled the number of officers stationed on the English border.
The
latest development followed a Downing Street virtual press conference
on Saturday during which British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned of a
mutation of the virus which has quickly spread across London and the
southeast of England.
The announcement of a new Tier Four
restriction for the British capital provoked a race to major rail
terminals in London with thousands of people fleeing the capital to
escape a lockdown over Christmas.
Johnson said that the previous
plan to allow up to three households to meet during five days around
Christmas will have to be scrapped.
People should not to travel
into a Tier Four area, though support bubbles remain unaffected as do
the exemptions for separated parents and their children.
British
Health Secretary Matt Hancock on Sunday criticised people who escaped
London before the new Tier four lockdown came into force in the day as
"totally irresponsible", the Evening Standard newspaper reported.
For
those in Tiers One, Two and Three, rules allowing up to three
households to meet will now be limited to Christmas Day only, while in
Tier Four, people should not mix with anyone outside their own
household, apart from support bubbles.
According to Johnson, the newly identified strain of the virus may be up to 70 percent more transmissible.
Hancock
said Sunday that the new variant was "out of control" in Britain,
urging Britons to behave as if they already have the virus, especially
in areas under the new Tier Fours restrictions.
The British
government's Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance has said the new
variant was first seen in mid-September in London and Kent.
By December, the new variant had become the "dominant variant" in London, said Vallance.
By
the week ending Dec. 9, the new variant accounted for 62 percent in
London, 59 percent in eastern England, and 43 percent in the South East,
according to Vallance.
To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Germany, Russia and the United States are racing against time to develop coronavirus vaccines.
Source: People's Daily app;Xinhua; CGTN
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