Will propose to the 27 member states of the European Commission The European Union The suspension of flights from southern Africa following the detection of a new version of the coronavirus was announced this Friday (26) by the President of the European Executive Ursula von der Leyen in a social network.
“The European Commission will propose in close coordination with the Member States, Reasons for activating the emergency brake to stop flights from the southern region of Africa Variant B.1.1.529“, Anuncio von der Leyen.
The announcement was made this Friday morning (26), a day after The United Kingdom restricted travel to South Africa and five other countries on the continent following the discovery of the variant, a . countries like Italy It is on Germany have already banned or are planning to veto the arrival of travelers from South Africa,
The president of the European Commission did not say how many countries in southern Africa would be affected by the proposal. The 27 member states of the European bloc will be presented at this Friday’s meeting,
Even before the meeting, Germany has already announced that it will not accept the entry of passengers from here South Africa It is on Italy Reported restrictions on entry into its territory for anyone visiting 7 southern African countries in the past 14 days.
The 6 countries affected by the British decision are: South Africa, Namibia, lisotto, botswana, eswatini I Zimbabwe, Apart from these nations, Italy travel restricted from Mozambique,
“The situation is developing very rapidly, we want maximum guarantees to prevent the expansion of the edition,” a European Commission spokesman told France Press news agency.
Passengers at London’s Heathrow Airport. — Photo: Reuters/Toby Melville
Variant search B.1.1.1.529 The new coronavirus was announced on Thursday (25) by virologist Tulio de Oliveira at an online press conference under the supervision of the South African Ministry of Health.
So far 22 cases have been registered in the district. South AfricaAccording to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), mostly young people. Cases were also registered in the neighborhood botswana is on hong kong, in a person returning from a trip South Africa,
The team from the Tolio de Oliveira Research Institute, KRISP, affiliated with the University of KwaZulu-Natal and was the one who discovered the beta versionOne of four strains considered of global concern (VOC) by the World Health Organization (WHO).
According to virologists, a B.1.1.1.529 It is potentially very contagious and has an “extremely high” number of mutations. “we can see that [a variante] Has the potential to spread very quickly”,
Scientists in South Africa are still unsure about the effectiveness of existing COVID-19 vaccines against the new strain.
“We have concerns that this variant may not only have an increased transmission potential, but it may also be able to bypass parts of our immune system.”, said Professor Richard Lessells, another researcher at the institute.
