Dozens of countries have banned travel from the UK after new variant of Covid raises alarm bells.
Things have gone for bad to worse, and worse to catastrophic for the UK over the last few days. A new variant of Covid-19 is causing a drastic rise in infections, particularly in London and south-east England, hence the transition from Tier 3 to Tier 4 restrictions over the weekend. As a result, a growing number of countries all over the world are suspending flights and ferries carrying passengers from the UK for the foreseeable future – we can’t catch a break (or a flight by the looks of things).
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The travel ban comes as the latest figures reveal that Coronavirus cases in the UK rose by 35,928 on Sunday (December 20) – which is nearly double the number recorded a week prior. There is no evidence that this infectious mutation is more deadly however, health experts warn that it may be up to 70% more transmissible. According to the Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, Southern England may have to remain under Tier 4 regulations “for the next couple of months” while the vaccine is rolled out.
The Netherlands was the first country ban travel by announcing a suspension of flights from the UK, shortly followed by France who have closed their borders for 48 hours. This means that no lorries, ferries or cross-Channel freight transport can currently sail from the port of Dover to France! Several other European countries, as well as many further afield, have hopped on the bandwagon and will also be prohibiting flights from the UK.
States currently banning UK arrivals include:
France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Greece, Portugal, Poland, Finland, Denmark, Austria, Bulgaria, Sweden, Russia, Switzerland, Romania, Latvia, Luxemburg, El Salvador, Kuwait, Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Israel, Colombia, Canada, Hong Kong and India.
On the bright side, it’s not like we can travel under the restrictions anyway!