Here It Comes: 'New' Covid Strain - New Lockdowns Right On Schedule

Britain warns new strain out of control as European nations start to ban flights

By AFP

European countries started banning flights coming from the UK on Sunday as government in London warned that a potent new strain of the virus was “out of control.”

Following the example of the Netherlands, where a ban on all UK passenger flights came into effect on Sunday, a German government source said Berlin, too, was considering a similar move as “a serious option” for flights from both Britain and South Africa.

The Dutch ban came into effect from 6:00 a.m. (0500 GMT) and will last until January 1. And neighboring Belgium also said it was suspending flight and train arrivals from Britain from midnight.

The moves come as around a third of England’s population entered a Christmas lockdown and UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock warned that the new strain of virus was “out of control.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson had said the previous day that millions of Britons would have to cancel their Christmas plans and stay home because the new strain was spreading far more quickly.

Speaking on Sky News, Hancock said the situation was “deadly serious.”

“It’s going to be very difficult to keep it under control until we have the vaccine rolled out,” he said.

It seems that scientists first discovered the new variant in a patient in September.

Susan Hopkins of Public Health England told Sky News that the agency notified the government on Friday when modeling revealed the full seriousness of the new strain.

London, Italy Enter Full Holiday Lockdowns; England COVID Mutation 70% More Infectious: Live Updates

TYLER DURDEN

Update (1500ET): Even as Brexit negotiations drag on, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has imposed a full lockdown on London and southeast England in a desperate attempt to stop a new "variant" strain - that's a fancy way of saying an even deadlier mutated iteration of the virus. coronavirus strain spreading rapidly over the UK.

After emergency talks on the virus mutation with his top officials, the prime minister canceled his plan to ease pandemic rules for five days during the holiday. Instead, household mixing will be banned in London and the southeast, while socializing will be restricted to just Christmas Day across the rest of England. Residents across the country were told to stay in their local areas. The premier announced a new top tier of pandemic curbs will be brought in for the hot-spot regions around the capital from Sunday, with all non-essential shops closing and millions of people ordered to stay at home.

The new variant, which analysts say is 70% more infectious, is being seein across Southeastern UK, as we have noted in the past.

A top US official apologized for a miscommunication regarding the vaccine's allocation numbers that states received. Meanwhile, five days after the rollout started, rural hospital executives are still waiting for their allotments to arrive.

Italy, home to Europe’s deadliest outbreak, is imposing a new total lockdown over Christmas for the first time since May, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said Friday.

In other news, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to announce even stricter restrictions on London and southeast England

Covid: WHO in 'close contact' with UK over new virus variant

The World Health Organization (WHO) has said it is in "close contact" with UK officials over the emergence of a new variant of coronavirus.

The new variant is spreading more rapidly than the original version, but it is not believed to be more deadly. 

Along with the UK, the same mutation of the Covid-19 virus has also been detected in the Netherlands, Denmark and Australia, the WHO told the BBC.

There is no evidence to suggest the new variant reacts differently to vaccines.

In the UK, large parts of south-east England, including London, are now under a new, stricter level of restrictions in a bid to curb the rapidly spreading virus.