Britain face isolation after discovery of new strain of Coronavirus
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Freight lorries and goods vehicles are pictured parked in a paring lot near the Port of Dover in in Dover, Kent, on the south east coast of England on December 21, 2020, as a string of countries banned travellers all but unaccompanied freight arriving from the UK, due to the rapid spread of a more-infectious new coronavirus strain.
New Delhi: Just an hour after Britain's announcement of the discovery of a new strain of Coronavirus on its territory, the country has entered into a forced isolation, imposed on it by neighbours and others alike fearing another spread of the dangerous virus.
France, Belgium, Italy, Turkey and Finland were among the first countries to issue decisions banning flights and travel from Britain.
The Czech Republic announced that it would apply more stringent quarantine measures to those coming from the United Kingdom.
Italian Health Minister Roberto Speranza said, on Sunday, that his country has taken a decision to stop flights from the United Kingdom and prevent those who have been in Britain during the last 14 days from entering Italy, and that the decision will be effective until January 6.
Turkey Health Minister Fahrettin Koca confirmed that a decision was made regarding suspending flights from Britain, Denmark, the Netherlands and South Africa to Turkey, against the backdrop of the rapid spread of the Corona pandemic with the emergence of the mutated strain of the virus.
Koca explained that all those arriving via flights are still on their way to his country, and that they will undergo the necessary examinations and be subject to quarantine, as part of the measures taken to confront the risks of the new strain of the virus.
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Crowe said that they had imposed a ban on flights coming from Britain for a period of 24 hours, starting at midnight on Sunday.
Germany suspended flights from the United Kingdom from midnight Sunday, so the ban will continue until December 31.
French Prime Minister Jean Castex announced on Sunday evening that the country will suspend air, land and sea transport with the United Kingdom for 48 hours.
Ireland and Denmark also announced that they had imposed a 48-hour ban on flights originating from Britain.
The ban, imposed by the Netherlands, went into effect on Monday morning and will continue until the end of this year.
In this scenario, Spain requested a "coordinated" response from the European Union regarding the flights with the United Kingdom, and Madrid did not issue a decision to ban flights from the United Kingdom until Monday afternoon.
Switzerland decided to ban entry to anyone coming from Britain or South Africa, along with imposing a mandatory 10-day quarantine on all those coming to it from Britain or South Africa since December 14.
On Monday morning, Hong Kong, Canada, Switzerland, Norway, Chile and Argentina joined the list of countries banning flights from the United Kingdom.
Bulgaria also imposed a ban on incoming and outgoing flights to the United Kingdom.
Russia suspended flights to and from Britain for a week due to the outbreak of the new strain of Corona.
India was the last country to issue a decision to ban flights from Britain.
The Civil Aviation Ministry said that the ban will start on Tuesday night and will continue until December 31.
The Arab countries took decisions similar to their foreign counterparts and imposed restriction on travelling from and to the United Kingdom.
Kuwait and Saudi Arabia were the first two Arab countries to impose a ban on flights coming from Britain.
Riyadh banned all international flights for a week, as part of precautionary measures to prevent the new strain of Corona virus.
While Kuwait decided to suspend commercial flights and close the land and sea border crossings from today, until January 1, 2021.
It is expected that the list of countries that prohibit trips with Britain will be longer, after the Sultanate of Oman, Jordan and Sudan made similar decisions.
It was on Sunday, British Health Minister Matt Hancock said that the new Corona strain that was recently discovered has become out of control, indicating that it appeared last September for the first time.
The latest figures showed that 43 percent of new cases in southeast Britain were caused by this new type of virus, and that the infection rate in the east reached 59 percent, and 62 percent in the capital, London.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also announced that the new strain has a 70 percent faster transmission ability, pointing out that there is no data indicating that it is more fatal than the original version.