Germany and Switzerland join states banning flights from SA over new virus strain

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Germany and Switzerland join states banning flights from SA over new virus strain

9:37 CAT | 22 Dec 2020

File photo: Reuters

Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands have joined countries banning flights from SA to stop the spread of a new variant of the coronavirus believed to be responsible for a recent surge in infections.

By Tuesday, Germany, the Netherlands, Turkey, Sudan, El Salvador and Guatemala were among states that have banned flights to and from SA and the UK, which has also identified a new variant of the virus that spreads more rapidly. The Dutch government said all passenger flights to and from the two countries were banned with immediate effect until January 1.

Tunisia said it has suspended all air travel with Britain, Australia and SA, citing the new coronavirus strain.

Swiss officials said on Monday they believe the new strain is already in Switzerland, though it had not yet officially been documented there.

The Swiss government also ordered people who have entered the country from the UK and SA since December 14 to start a 10-day quarantine.

“The virus, unfortunately, is one step ahead of us again,” Patrick Mathys, assistant head of communicable diseases at the federal ministry of health, told a news conference two days after Swiss regulators approved Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine against Covid-19.

In SA, health minister Zweli Mkhize has confirmed a new variant of Covid-19 has been identified in SA and is circulating widely. He said that 216 new coronavirus-related deaths in the past 24 hours, taking fatalities caused by the virus to 24,907. Mkhize also reported that there were 8,789 new cases, taking the national total to 930,711 confirmed infections to date.

Worldwide more than 76.91-million people have been reported to be infected globally and 1,696,364 have died of Covid-19. Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.

• Nigeria is advising its subregions to limit public gatherings, close bars and night clubs over the next five weeks amid a spike in new Covid-19 cases there.

Africa’s most populous nation could be near a second wave of the novel coronavirus with the number of confirmed cases rising in communities over the past few weeks.

Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, Abuja and northern state of Kaduna have emerged as new epicentres with over 70% of confirmed cases, said Boss Mustapha, chair of the presidential task force for Covid-19, who is the country’s most senior public servant.

Source: Reuters / TimesLIVE