Amid concern over the newly discovered infectious variant of the Coronavirus in the UK, more countries restricted flights from the UK on Monday. However, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that he is trying to re-open trade routes to France to end the chaos at the UK’s busiest port.
In fear of the new virus strain, a growing number of countries, including India banned flights from the UK. Due to strict restrictions, European stocks, oil prices, and the British pound all nosedived making the situation worse and severe.
Among the first to ban the entry of people coming from the UK following a sharp hike in the new Coronavirus cases were Poland, Turkey, Germany, France, Italy, and Ireland. The transport service from Britain to France was disrupted due to a 48-hour block on people and freight imposed by Paris on Monday. However, UK transport secretary Grant Shapps hinted that goods transport continues from the UK to France, but Irish Transport Minister Eamon Ryan said that around 250 Irish truckers stuck in Britain would have to return to Ireland.
An emergency meeting of UK officials chaired by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will discuss methods to ensure that freights continue to reach the country.
Meanwhile, the Indian government has announced that they will temporarily restrict UK flights from today midnight till December 31. Also, those passengers arriving in India before December 22 should undergo a mandatory RT-PCR test on arrival at the concerned airports.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan however, clarified that there is no need to panic about the new variant of the Coronavirus that has been identified in the UK as the Government of India is on alert. While attending a press conference on Monday, the Union health minister said that the government is fully aware of everything and that there is no reason to panic. Vardhan said the government had done everything to handle the Covid-19 situation in the last one year.
Earlier, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal requested the Centre to restrict all flights coming from the United Kingdom to India after the emergence of a new variant of the coronavirus.
