Israel essentially closes heaven to most foreigners as of Wednesday afternoon. Saudi Arabia went even further to prevent the variant from gaining momentum and announced a week-long ban on all international travel, according to the Saudi press agency. Kuwait suspended all commercial international flights on Monday evening and closed its land and sea borders until January 1st.
In the Asia-Pacific region, Hong Kong also closed its borders to travelers from the UK on Monday. All passenger flights out of the country would be blocked from midnight. The ban will be extended to Hong Kong residents for the first time. On Tuesday, the Fiji government announced that all incoming passenger flights will be suspended from Thursday until at least December 28, citing the British variant.
In South America, Argentina and Colombia canceled flights to and from the UK and placed quarantine on travelers who had been there. Peru has suspended all flights originating in Europe for two weeks and has suspended all flights from the UK, including those with stopovers in the country, indefinitely. El Salvador has issued entry restrictions for people who have been to the UK or South Africa in the last 30 days, where another variant is also triggering a new wave of infections.
Starting Tuesday, Chile banned non-resident foreigners who had been in the UK in the past 14 days from entering the country and suspended flights to and from the country.
Canada, India, Iran and Russia have also introduced new restrictions.
In the United States, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, told CNN that he would advise against suspending flights from the UK, but officials should monitor the variant closely.
“Follow it carefully, but don’t overreact,” he said.
The new variant, which was first discovered a few months ago, spread in the south-east of England and, according to representatives of the World Health Organization, has also been identified in small numbers in Denmark, the Netherlands and Australia.
Comments are closed.