Britain’s authorities has banned journey from South America and Portugal to make sure a brand new variant of COVID-19 present in Brazil doesn’t derail the nation’s vaccination program, though there aren’t any indicators the variant has reached the UK.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps stated the ban, which took impact Friday morning, was prolonged to Portugal as a result of many individuals who come to Europe from South America journey by means of Portugal.
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“We don’t have cases at the moment, but this is a precautionary approach,” Shapps informed the BBC. “We want to make sure that we do everything possible so that vaccine rollout can continue and make sure that it’s not disturbed by other variants of this virus.”
The announcement comes just some weeks after many nations banned journey from the UK following the invention of one other variant of the virus that’s extra contagious than earlier varieties and has been blamed for a pointy rise in infections and deaths associated to COVID-19.
There is not any indication, nonetheless, that the variant reacts any otherwise to the vaccines.
But Portuguese Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva stated the UK’s determination was “without logic” and stated he would search clarification from his British counterpart.
“Suspending flights from Portugal with the argument of the connections between Portugal and Brazil is, with all due respect, completely absurd,” he stated in an interview revealed on-line by the newspaper Diario de Noticias.
The UK is ramping up its mass vaccination program as the federal government seeks to guard the nation’s oldest and most susceptible residents earlier than easing a 3rd nationwide lockdown.
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More than 2.9 million folks have acquired at the very least one dose of vaccine. Britain plans to present the primary dose to greater than 15 million folks, together with these over 70, frontline healthcare employees and others who’re notably susceptible to the virus, by the center of February.
“We’re so close now that we want to make sure we do absolutely everything possible to give us the best chance of beating this virus, which is why it’s important that we do act quickly on these things,” Shapps stated.
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Last Update: Friday, 15 January 2021 KSA 16:55 – GMT 13:55
