India Joins Several Countries in Sealing Off UK Amid New Coronavirus Variant Surge

London: India and France have joined a growing list of countries suspending flights to and from the United Kingdom amid concerns of an "out of control" new variant of coronavirus spreading COVID-19 at a much faster pace in parts of England.

The new variant is said to be 70% more transmissible, though health experts say there is no evidence that it is more deadly or would react differently to vaccines.

India followed Germany, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Bulgaria, the Irish Republic, Turkey, Canada and Hong Kong in suspending flights. France became the latest European country to close all its borders with Britain.

"Considering the prevailing situation in UK, the government of India has decided that all flights originating from UK to India to be suspended till 31st December 2020 (23.59 hours),” the Indian High Commission in London said in a statement on Monday.

In India, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, during a press conference on India International Science Festival 2020,

said: "The government is alert. There is no need to panic. Do not get yourself tangled in the imaginary situation, talks and panic."

Earlier, the Health Ministry called an emergency meeting of its top advisors to discuss the emergence of the mutated strain of coronavirus in the UK.

According to a civil aviation ministry statement, all flights originating from the UK to India will be temporarily suspended until 11:59 p.m on December 31, with the suspension to start from 11.59 p.m on December 22.

"As a measure of abundant precaution, passengers arriving from UK in all transit flights (flights that have taken off or flights which are reaching India before 22nd Dec at 23.59 hrs) should be subject to mandatory RT-PCR test on arrival at the airports concerned," the ministry added.

With most of Britain now in the strictest tier-4 lockdown, all non-essential travel remains banned for the majority. Other countries and territories to announce restrictions on UK travel include Israel, Iran, Croatia, Argentina, Chile, Morocco and Kuwait.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is to chair a meeting of the government’s emergency committee on Monday to take stock of the situation as a huge backlog builds up on the border with France after even trucks and ferries were blocked entry at the ports.

European Union (EU) member states are also due for a meeting in Brussels to discuss a more coordinated response as the number of coronavirus infections in the UK jumped to 35,928 on Sunday, down to the much faster spreading new mutation of the novel coronavirus, with the country’s death toll rising by 326 to hit 67,401.

"Everybody, particularly people in tier 4 areas, needs to behave as if they might well have the virus – that is the only way we are going to get it under control," UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said, adding that the situation is "deadly serious" as the government tries to contain the rapid strain of an "out of control" virus.

"This is a deadly disease, we need to keep it under control, and it has been made more difficult by this new variant," he said.

It’s too early to draw conclusions: Experts

The new variant is said to be 70% more transmissible, though health experts say there is no evidence that it is more deadly or would react differently to vaccines.

"It is really too early to tell… but from what we see so far it is growing very quickly, it is growing faster than [a previous variant] ever grew, but it is important to keep an eye on this," said Dr Erik Volz from Imperial College London.

"The amount of evidence in the public domain is woefully inadequate to draw strong or firm opinions on whether the virus has truly increased transmission," added Professor Jonathan Ball, a virologist at the University of Nottingham.

It is thought the variant either emerged in a patient in the UK or has been imported from a country with a lower ability to monitor coronavirus mutations. The variant can be found across the UK, except Northern Ireland, but it is heavily concentrated in London, the South East and eastern England. Cases elsewhere in the country do not seem to have shot up in a similar way so far.

The government's New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag) estimates the variant could increase the R number – or rate of infection – by between 0.4 and 0.9. The R number is how many other people one person will infect on average and an epidemic is in effect if it rises above one.

Opposition Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer accused Boris Johnson of "gross negligence" and said the prime minister should apologise for his handling of the pandemic. He said the British people were paying the price for his "incompetence" and that Johnson's "indecision" and "weak leadership" was "costing lives and costing jobs".