United Kingdom bans flights from six African countries due to new COVID-19 variant

The United Kingdom will veto from tomorrow flights from six African countries, including South Africa, before the spread of a new variant of the coronavirus that it may be more transmissible, British Health Minister Sajid Javid announced on Thursday.

Javid warned that “First indications” with which scientists work suggest that variant B.1.1.529 of COVID-19 can cause “The vaccines we currently have are less effective.”

To try to prevent its spread in the United Kingdom, where no case has been detected so far, the British Government has decided to temporarily suspend all flights from South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Botswana.

It will also add those countries to its red list of travel destinations, which since the end did not include any territory.

This classification means that people who have been in the last ten days in one of those countries will only be able to enter the United Kingdom if they have British nationality or residence in the country.

Those who enter British territory must keep a ten-day quarantine in a hotel designated by the authorities.

An expert from the United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA) told the media that the variant B.1.1.529 it is “The worst we have seen so far”, and highlighted that the spicule protein is “dramatically”Different from the original virus due to mutations.

“Our scientists are deeply concerned about this variant”, declared the Minister of Health.

“As far as we know, there are a significant number of mutations, perhaps twice as many mutations as we had seen in the delta variant,” Javid added.

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