South Africa f lights ban over virus mutation
A TRAVEL ban on visitors from South Africa to the UK is being imposed today over fears of a new super strain of coronavirus.
Five days after it emerged that a mutant variant of the virus was fuelling infections, UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced yesterday that a second one had entered the country.
The new strain, found in two people, is believed to be even more infectious than the one that has plunged much of the UK into Tier Four.
It has been driving a second wave in South Africa, largely among young people, according to officials.
Passengers travelling from South Africa to the UK from 9am today, and those who have transited through South Africa in the past ten days, will be refused entry. Direct flights will be banned.
British and Irish nationals, permanent r esidents and visaholders who are allowed in will be required to self-isolate for ten days along with their household, and to show a completed passenger location form on arrival in the UK, to help with tracing any outbreaks.
The Home Office will step up its Border Force presence to ensure those arriving in the UK from South Africa comply with the new restrictions, but the ban and expanded self-isolation measures will be kept under review.
Mr Hancock said yesterday: ‘This new variant is highly concerning because it is yet more transmissible and it appears to have mutated further than the new variant discovered in the UK.’
A mutant strain of coronavirus first found in Kent in September has spread rapidly across the country, with the f i rst case identified in Northern Ireland last night.
The South African variant, picked up in two people in London and the North-West of England, is now subject to strict containment efforts to stop it doing the same. A Government source said last night: ‘We are taking no chances with this strain.’
Scottish Transport Minister Michael Matheson said: ‘These steps are a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of a variant strain of coronavirus which has been detected in South Africa, which we are still in the early stages of learning about, to Scotland. This decision has been taken on clinical advice to help
‘We are taking no chances’
further safeguard public health and keep communities safe.’
Dr Julian Tang, honorary associate professor and clinical virologist at the University of Leicester, said: ‘The spread of this variant exhibits higher viral loads, which may make it more transmissible via aerosols produced during breathing and talking.’
The travel ban will exclude cargo and freight without passengers.
Mr Hancock stressed the measures being taken are ‘temporary’ while the new variant is analysed.
The mutated strain is called the 501.V2 variant. In South Africa, it is said to increase the amount of virus in people’s bodies, suggesting it may spread more easily.