UK reinstates France curbs over Beta variant
LONDON: Tourists and the travel industry vented frustration and anger on Saturday after Britain reversed a plan to ease travel restrictions on France just two days after they were due to start, citing concerns about a variant of the coronavirus.
In an announcement late on Friday, the UK government said people arriving from France must self-isolate for 10 days on entering Britain, even if they are fully vaccinated. The announcement came just days after the government said fully vaccinated UK residents will no longer face quarantine starting Monday.
British health authorities say France is being singled out because of cases of the Beta variant, first identified in South Africa, which is believed to be more resistant to vaccines than other strains of the virus.
The Beta variant accounts for about 10% of cases in France, but much less than 1% of cases in Britain. In both countries, the Delta variant first identified in India is dominant.
Epidemiologist John Edmunds, a member of the UK government’s scientific advisory group, said there is good evidence that Beta “can evade the immune response generated by the AstraZeneca vaccine more efficiently”.
The AstraZeneca shot has been used for a majority of British vaccinations.
Indonesia passes Brazil with highest daily cases Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo urged for a “sense of crisis” among his ministers as the country becomes one of the worst hotspots in the world.
Indonesia’s daily Covid-19 cases hit a record 56,757 on Thursday before easing to 54,000 on Friday. Brazil reported more than 45,500 infections on Friday, while US ones are climbing again.
The US is headed for its worst day of new infections since midApril on Friday, almost tripling from the day before.
By early evening US Eastern Time, more than 74,000 new Covid-19 cases were reported, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg.
That compares with 27,956 new infections on Thursday, and a daily average from the previous seven days of 26,262.