Britain has announced a halting of all flights from South Africa and five other countries in the region in response to the discovery of a highly transmissible new coronavirus variant.
The variant is very different from the others that have emerged so far. Scientists have said it is the most heavily mutated version yet, which means vaccines, which were designed using the original strain from Wuhan, may not be as effective.
The new variant is yet to be given a more memorable name, like Delta or Beta, and right now is known as B.1.1.529. The WHO is expected to name it on Friday.
From midday today, they will be suspending direct flights from South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Eswatini until further notice.
Announcing the restrictions, the British health secretary, Sajid Javid, said it was possible that current vaccines might be less effective against the heavily mutated variant.
So far, no cases have been discovered in the UK.
More countries are tightening their travel restrictions after the discovery of a new coronavirus variant in South Africa earlier this week.
The UK, Singapore and Japan are among those rushing in stricter quarantine measures and banning flights from South Africa and neighbouring countries.
The WHO says so far fewer than 100 sample sequences have been reported. Cases have mainly been confirmed in South Africa, but have also been detected in Hong Kong, Israel and Botswana.
The UK’s health minister, Sajid Javid, said on Friday that it is “highly likely ” to have spread to other countries.
Only about 24% of South Africa‘s population is fully vaccinated, which could see a rapid spread of cases there, Dr Mike Tildesley, a member of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Modelling group (Spi-M), told the BBC on Friday.
