Covid-19 Live Updates: New Variant Causes Alarm Around the World

Even though there is much uncertainty about the variant spreading in Britain, countries are barring travelers from the U.K., and Saudi Arabia has banned international travel all together.

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More nations close their doors to Britain; Calls increase for the United States to follow suit.
The closed port at Dover on Monday evening.
The closed port at Dover on Monday evening.Credit…Andrew Testa for The New York Times

Growing alarm over an outbreak of a more contagious virus variant in Britain prompted mounting concern and travel chaos on Monday as more than 30 nations banned travelers from the country, suspending flights and cutting off trade routes in scenes reminiscent of the frenzied early days of the pandemic.

Monday should have been a day of breakthroughs. In the United States, federal lawmakers reached a deal on a $900 billion stimulus package and the rollout of a second vaccine, made by Moderna, was set to begin. Across the Atlantic, the European Union approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, paving the way for millions of doses to be transferred to all 27 European Union member states.

Instead, announcements by government officials sent financial markets reeling. Stocks in Europe were sharply lower, along with energy prices and the British pound. On Wall Street, the decline was tempered slightly by news of the stimulus deal.

Britain was all but cut off from the rest of Europe on Monday, offering a chilling preview of what a rupture might look like, just 10 days before a deadline to negotiate a post-Brexit trade agreement with the European Union.

The disruptions stoked fears of panic buying in British supermarkets, as Britons, already rattled by a surge in infections and a hastily imposed lockdown in much of England, worried about running out of fresh food in the days before Christmas.

The upheaval over the virus mutation grew after Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain said that it had been shown to be 70 percent more contagious than other variants. The 70 percent estimate of greater transmissibility is based only on modeling and has not been confirmed by lab experiments, said Muge Cevik, an infectious disease expert at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and a scientific adviser to the British government. British officials said there was no reason to believe that the new variant caused more serious illness.

But the statistic raised alarm around the world. France imposed a 48-hour suspension of freight transit across the English Channel, leaving thousands of truck drivers stranded in their vehicles on Monday as the roads leading to England’s ports were turned into parking lots.

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy and the Netherlands were among the nations that announced restrictions on travel. Air passengers from the United Kingdom arriving in Germany were detained at airports on Sunday night. Poland said it would suspend flights between the two countries starting Monday. Spain announced that only Spaniards and residents of Spain will be allowed to fly to Spain from Britain, and implemented tighter border checks with Gibraltar, the British territory located at the southern tip of Spain. Greece has extended to ten days the quarantine period for travelers flying in from the U.K., a day after raising it to seven days, but has not suspended flights.

Hong Kong on Monday also closed its borders to travelers from Britain, saying all passenger flights from the country would be barred starting at midnight. The ban will be extended for the first time to Hong Kong residents. Canada, India, Iran, and Russia also issued new restrictions.

Israel is essentially closing its skies to most foreign nationals from Wednesday afternoon. Saudi Arabia went even further in trying to halt the variant from gaining traction, announcing a one week ban on all international travel, according to the Saudi Press Agency. Kuwait on Monday evening suspended all commercial international flights and closed its land and sea borders until Jan. 1.

European Union leaders planned to meet on Monday to devise a “common doctrine” for dealing with the variant’s threat.

In the United States, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York urged the federal government to take action, saying that “right now, this variant in the U.K. is getting on a plane and flying to J.F.K.,” while also acknowledging that it may be too late.

Gov. Cuomo said he took it upon himself to ask the three major airlines that oversee air travel between the United Kingdom and New York — British Airways, Delta Air Lines and Virgin Atlantic — to require passengers to get tested before they are allowed to fly into the state.

He cautioned: “If it’s been flying around the world, it will be here.”

So far, only British Airways has agreed to the safety precaution, but Mr. Cuomo warned that if Delta Air Lines and Virgin Atlantic did not follow suit, “we will pursue other options.” The governor recognized that he does not have the authority to halt air travel, but also asserted that he has some legal jurisdiction once passengers land on New York soil.
The new York Times