Delhi chief minister (CM) Arvind Kejriwal on Monday requested the Central government to ban all flights coming from the United Kingdom after a new mutation of coronavirus emerged in the UK.
“New mutation of coronavirus has emerged in the United Kingdom, which is a super-spreader. I urge the central government to ban all flights from the UK immediately,” Kejriwal tweeted.
This comes after UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock on Sunday had said that the new mutation of Covid-19, being seen in their country is ‘out of control’. Following this announcement, several countries in Europe have taken precautionary measures and placed restrictions on the flights coming from UK.
Dubbed the “B.1.1.7 lineage,” the strain has undergone almost a dozen genetic changes from the virus that emerged from Wuhan, China in late 2019. That includes changes in key areas of the virus involved in its ability to infect people. Preliminary analysis in the UK suggests it may be as much as 70% more transmissible than other circulating SARS-CoV-2 strains and may be contributing to a spike in cases in the country.
Netherlands government is banning all passenger flights coming from the UK from Sunday morning until New Year in order to minimise the risk of the new strain from spreading in the country.
The Canadian government on Sunday announced the decision to suspend flights from the United Kingdom amid the genetic variant of the coronavirus identified in the UK.
“Genetic variation of viruses such as the one that causes COVID-19 is to be expected and have been previously observed in parts of the world this year. While early data suggest that the United Kingdom variant may be more transmissible, to date there is no evidence that the new mutations have any impact on symptom severity, antibody response or vaccine efficacy,” read a news release from the Public Health Agency of Canada.
The Dutch government also said the same variant of the virus had been detected in the country in a sample from a case from early December, adding that it is conducting further investigations to determine if there are any other related cases.
Meanwhile, Belgium Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said that the country will block travellers from the UK for 24 hours on Monday as a ‘precautionary measure’, although the ban could be extended if required. According to CNN, Italy Foreign Affairs Minister Luigi Di Malo on Sunday informed that the country will also suspend flights to and from the UK citing the new mutation of the coronavirus, although he did not provide more details.
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