Belgians, Dutch, Austrians halt British isles flights, fearing variant | Environment







FILE- In this Friday Dec. 18, 2020, file image, A traveller wearing a facial area mask checks the flight departures at Schiphol Airport, near Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Netherlands is banning flights from the United Kingdom for the relaxation of the 12 months in an try to make absolutely sure that a new strain of the COVID-19 virus in Britain does not achieve its shores. The ban came into influence Sunday morning Dec. 20, 2020, and the federal government claimed it was reacting to tougher steps imposed in and around London on Saturday. The Netherlands reported it will evaluate “with other EU nations the alternatives to comprise the import of the virus from the United Kingdom.”







FILE- In this Friday Dec. 18, 2020, file photo, arriving and departing travellers use the flat escalators at Schiphol Airport, around Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Netherlands is banning flights from the United Kingdom for the relaxation of the year in an endeavor to make absolutely sure that a new strain of the COVID-19 virus in Britain does not achieve its shores. The ban came into impact Sunday early morning Dec. 20, 2020, and the govt reported it was reacting to harder steps imposed in and about London on Saturday. The Netherlands stated it will assess “with other EU nations the alternatives to consist of the import of the virus from the United Kingdom.”







In this Dec. 16, 2020, photo, A hosts directs readers of a COVID-19 tests facility of the Municipal Wellbeing Authority GGD, in Utrecht, Netherlands. The Netherlands is banning flights from the United Kingdom for the rest of the year in an endeavor to make guaranteed that a new strain of the COVID-19 virus in Britain does not reach its shores. The ban came into impact Sunday early morning Dec. 20, 2020, and the authorities said it was reacting to harder actions imposed in and all around London on Saturday. The Netherlands claimed it will assess “with other EU nations the options to contain the import of the virus from the United Kingdom.”
BERLIN (AP) — The Netherlands, Belgium and Austria on Sunday banned flights from the U.K. and Germany considered restricting these flights to make positive that a new strain of coronavirus sweeping throughout southern England does not build a solid foothold on the continent.
The Netherlands banned flights from the U.K. for at minimum the relaxation of the year while Belgium issued a flight ban for 24 hours commencing at midnight and also halted train inbound links to Britain, including the Eurostar. German officers were being contemplating “serious options” regarding incoming flights from the U.K., but have not still taken action.
Austria mentioned it would also halt flights from the U.K. but there were no immediate specifics on the timing of the ban, the Austrian information company APA described. The Czech Republic, in the meantime, imposed stricter quarantine steps from people arriving from the U.K.
The five EU governments say their reaction will come in response to harder steps imposed Saturday in London and surrounding regions by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. He immediately put people areas into a new Tier 4 stage of limitations, expressing that a rapid-relocating new variant of the virus that is 70% far more transmissible than current strains seems to be driving the fast distribute of new infections in London and southern England.
“There’s no proof to counsel it is a lot more lethal or will cause a lot more extreme disease,” Johnson said, or that vaccines will be significantly less helpful in opposition to it.
