New COVID variant: Which countries have announced travel restrictions?

The detection of a new coronavirus variant in South Africa prompted a flurry of travel restrictions globally on Friday even as the World Health Organization (WHO) led calls against “knee-jerk reactions.” The global health body said its Technical Advisory Group on Virus Evolution (TAG-VE) is holding a meeting Friday to weigh evidence for classifying the currently-named B.1.1.529 variant as a variant of interest or a variant of concern. European Union (EU) is mulling “in close coordination with the member states, to activate the emergency brake to stop air travel from the southern African region,” the 27-nation bloc’s President Ursula von der Leyen said. 

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The United Kingdom announced it was banning flights from South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Botswana and Namibia effective at noon on Friday. Travellers from these countries will have to undergo quarantine and COVID tests, UK Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Sajid Javid said.

Germany’s flight ban could be enacted as soon as Friday night with Health Minister Jens Spahn saying airlines coming back from South Africa will only be able to transport German citizens home, and travelers will need to go into quarantine for 14 days irrespective of their vaccination status.

Italy’s health ministry also announced measures to ban entry of anyone who has been in the seven southern African nations in the past 14 days. The Netherlands and the Czech Republic are planning similar measures.

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France has also suspended all its flight operations to and from South Africa for 48 hours, Health Minister Olivier Veran said.

Israel, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan and Czech Republic have also announced travel restrictions of varying degrees as a precautionary measure against the new strain. India will subject international travellers from “at-risk” countries to rigorous screening and testing.

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Cases of the B.1.1.529 have been reported in South Africa, Hong Kong and Botswana so far. Belgium became the first European Union country to announce a case of the variant. Israel announced Friday that it has also detected the country’s first case of the new variant, in a traveler who returned from Malawi.

Many countries are taking no chances due to concerns of the variant being potentially more transmissible than the delta variant.

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The B.1.1.529 variant has a “very unusual constellation” of new mutations, Tulio de Oliveira, director of South Africa’s Centre of Epidemic Response and Innovation, said during a media briefing on Thursday.

The South African government said in a statement that the “U.K.’s decision to temporarily ban South Africans from entering the U.K. seems to have been rushed as even the World Health Organization is yet to advise on the next steps.”