By Francis Ogwo
As the world grapples with the second wave of the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic with it’s new strains, about six counties on Sunday placed restriction on flights with the United Kingdom (UK).
According to an Associated Press report Austria, Belgium, Germany, Israel, Italy and the Netherlands had stopped travels to the UK except for official reasons, which is coming shortly after the British prime minister announced a new wave of restrictions for southern England.
In the same vein, Italy has also banned entry from anyone who was in the UK over the past 14 days, according to the news service.
British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, in a recent tweet had warned of a new, more easily transmissible strain of COVID-19 afflicting the country.
“Given the early evidence we have on this new variant of the virus, and the potential risk it poses, it is with a heavy heart that I must tell you we cannot continue with Christmas as planned,” Johnson tweeted.
“We are sacrificing our chance to see loved ones this Christmas, so we have a better chance of protecting their lives so we can see them at future Christmases,” he continued.
The head of the Labour Party, Keir Starmer, accused Johnson of being slow to implement restrictions on gatherings and shutter shops and public places in response to the new wave of infections.
The UK experienced a drop in its rate of new infections earlier this month but in recent days has seen the number surge to previous heights. More than 67,000 people have now died across the UK from COVID-19.
“The alarms bells have been ringing for weeks, but the prime minister chose to ignore them,” said Starmer, the AP reported.
“It is an act of gross negligence by a prime minister who, once again, has been caught behind the curve.”
President-elect Joe Biden’s surgeon general nominee, Vivek Murthy, said yesterday that the new, more contagious coronavirus strain reported in the UK does not appear to be any deadlier.
“This news from the UK appears to be about a new strain of the virus that’s more transmissible, more contagious than the virus we’ve seen prior to this,” Murthy, who was surgeon general in the Obama administration, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Experts say the ravaging effect of the pandemic if not tackled with stronger rules on restrictions, especially from the UK with its alarming statistics, could spell doom on world’s small countries thereby worsening food crises and challenges of healthcare even as counties move to get vaccines against the virus.
