The last weekend before Christmas, as the United Kingdom announced the emergence of a more contagious and more easily out of control variant of the new coronavirus and the re-closure of the southern region, quickly triggered Europe and the world’s many countries to react, have urgently called off transportation to the United Kingdom. British Prime Minister Johnson called an emergency meeting on Monday on this “blockade” crisis, at the same time the EU 26 countries also met in Brussels on the same day to coordinate the response. As a result, European and British stocks opened significantly lower on Monday, with London stocks opening down 1.0%.
The British government has announced a renewed lockdown of London and some parts of southeastern England after a new variant of the virus strain has been circulating in southern England since it was first discovered in the U.K. last week. The new variant of the virus is 70 percent more infectious than other existing strains and appears to be dominating the outbreak in southern England and London, leading to a rapid spike in confirmed diagnoses in those areas, according to British Prime Minister Johnson on Saturday. According to data from the U.K. Department of Public health, by the 20th more than 1,100 confirmed cases of the new crown had been confirmed as having been infected by the variant virus. But as for the severity of the disease, the prime minister said there is no indication yet that it will lead to more serious illness or higher mortality rates.
As countries prepare for mass vaccination against the new strain of the virus, medical experts are still studying whether the vaccine will become more effective or ineffective against this variant, but AFP reported that the German government announced on Sunday evening that EU experts believe the vaccine currently available for the new strain of the virus is still effective against the new strain.
German Health Minister Jens Spann said on television Sunday evening that “on all the information we currently know and communicate with the European institutions among experts in the discussion”, the new virus variant “has no impact on the vaccine, the vaccine “is still effective “. According to the report, experts from the Biological Center of the University of Basel in Switzerland and the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna said that the vaccine induces an immune response against several viral characteristics at the same time. Therefore, even if one of the characteristics of the virus changes, the immune system is still able to recognize the pathogen and protect the vaccinated person. Experts say there is no need to raise the alarm yet, but at the same time stress the need to pay attention to the next developments.
The U.K. has upgraded its epidemic alert and re-closed London and the southeast of England since Sunday. British Health Minister Matt Hancock admitted on Sunday that the new variant of the virus strain “is out of control and we have to get it under control”. Since then Ireland, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium and more than a dozen other European countries have quickly announced this weekend to varying degrees to stop traffic to and from the United Kingdom, Germany is currently cut off only civil aviation transport to the United Kingdom, but France called a halt to all passenger transport, including ferries sea, land and civil aviation. The temporary 48-hour period began midnight Sunday. A German government source told AFP that the EU is expected to formally ban flights to the UK in the coming hours, while EU countries are discussing joint response measures on sea, rail and road.
The multi-national emergency blockade measures affected many people who were leaving the UK to return to their countries for the Christmas holidays, with dozens of passengers from the UK reportedly stranded at German airports from Sunday evening until Monday.
In addition to the EU countries, Kuwait, Iran, Switzerland, Israel and many other countries in the world have taken similar measures, and some countries have also interrupted traffic with South Africa at the same time. Saudi Arabia announced a suspension of all international flights and access to its ports for at least a week. Canada, Argentina, Colombia and Chile have also suspended flights from the UK.
Responding to questions about whether China will take corresponding measures, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a press conference on Monday that China has taken note of the reports and will study them carefully and deal with them scientifically and appropriately.
In addition, Hong Kong announced on Monday the suspension of passenger flights from the United Kingdom starting at midnight. People who have arrived in the UK in the past 14 days must be quarantined upon arrival in Hong Kong for a longer period than the currently mandated quarantine.
As a result of this unforeseen situation, British Prime Minister Johnson hosted an emergency meeting on Monday to “discuss issues relating to international transport, particularly urgent UK inbound and outbound freight”, and the ferry terminal in Dover, England, to France is now closed due to the French ban on shipping, with all traffic out of the UK to be notified further.
This sudden multi-national blockade is particularly severe on the eve of the UK’s current withdrawal from the European Union, with UK ports particularly busy at the moment as many UK companies are preparing for the UK’s formal withdrawal from the European single market from the evening of December 31. With only ten days until the withdrawal due date, the UK has yet to see the results of its trade easy negotiations with the EU, and the sudden implementation of quotas and tariffs will undoubtedly increase fears of supply or chaos in the UK should the negotiations fail.
The World Health Organization and the European disease agency on Sunday called on their European members to strengthen controls to prevent the spread of new variants of the new coronavirus, in particular by improving their ability to detect strains. The European Disease Control Agency (ECDC) said it has not ruled out “transmission of the virus outside the United Kingdom.
Italy announced Sunday night that the country has found the first confirmed case of the variant in Rome’s Sirio military hospital. According to the WHO, new mutant infections have been detected in at least three countries: nine cases in Denmark and one each in the Netherlands and Australia.
According to EC President Von der Leyen, European countries will start mass vaccination with the new crown vaccine from December 27, 28 and 29, and representatives of EU member states will hold a crisis meeting in Brussels on Monday to discuss travel restrictions caused by the new variant of the virus, while on the same day the European Medicines Agency will review the evaluation report of the new crown vaccine developed by Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech, and is expected to approve the vaccination audit in Europe within two days.
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