The United Kingdom bans flights from Portugal and 14 South American countries

The Government of the United Kingdom announced this Thursday the ban on flights from Portugal and fourteen South American countries to try to prevent the spread of a new variant of the coronavirus detected in Brazil.

The British Minister of Transport, Grant Shapps, reported that arrivals will be suspended from this morning from Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela, as well as those of Portugal and Cape Verde because of its close ties with Brazil.

Shapps indicated that the British Executive has taken the “urgent decision” to veto these trips due to the “tests on a new variant in Brazil”, of which it is unknown if it is more infectious or if it has resistance to current vaccines.

The restrictions, which will take effect at 04.00 GMT this Friday, will not apply to people with British or Irish nationality, or to citizens of other countries with “residence rights” in the United Kingdom, he detailed the minister.

Carriers arriving in the British Isles from Portugal to facilitate the arrival of “essential goods” will also be exempt.

On December 24, London already established a veto on arrivals from South Africa, after the detection of another variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in that country.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson yesterday expressed “concern” about the mutations detected in Brazil and his government cabinet met this afternoon to address the new travel restrictions.

In the UK, infections have skyrocketed in recent weeks due to an apparently more contagious strain of the virus.

On Wednesday 1,564 deaths from the covid were reported, while the number of hospitalized patients with coronavirus in the country amounts to 36,489, above the maximum peak of 21,684 that was registered on April 12, during the first wave of the pandemic.

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