Several countries ban flights from UK over new Covid strain

Berlin:  Several nations moved to banned flights from the UK on Sunday and others were considering similar action, in a bid to block a new strain of coronavirus sweeping across southern England from establishing a strong foothold on the continent.
Christmas shopping, gatherings cancelled France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria and Italy all announced restrictions on UK travel, hours after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that Christmas shopping and gatherings in southern England must be canceled because of rapidly spreading infections blamed on the new coronavirus variant.
Johnson immediately put those regions into a strict new Tier 4 restriction level, upending Christmas plans for millions.
France banned all travel from the UK for 48 hours from midnight Sunday, the prime minister’s office announced. The French statement said the short two-day period would buy authorities time to find a common doctrine on how to deal with the threat.
It specified that flows of people or transport to the UK are not affected.
The German government said it was banning flights coming from Britain in reaction to the new coronavirus strain. The transportation ministry said all UK flights with the exception of cargo flights were no longer allowed to land in Germany starting at midnight Sunday. It didn’t immediately say how long the flight ban would last, but news agency dpa reported it would be in place at least until Dec. 31.