One by one, several European Union nations banned flights from the UK on Sunday and others were considering similar action in a bid to block a new strain of coronavirus sweeping across southern England from establishing a strong foothold on the continent.
The measures were announced just hours after Israeli ministers decided that all passengers arriving from Britain, Denmark and South Africa would be subject to a special form of quarantine in a government-run facility.
This caused chaos at Ben Gurion International Airport after passengers arriving from London were informed only after landing that they would have to be escorted by police to the quarantine hotels in order to ensure the virus did not spread in Israel. Several dozen protested and refused to go, triggering a standoff at the arrival hall, Ultimately, those who did not travel back to the UK agreed to follow the newly mandated isolation requirement and headed to the hotel.
Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria and Italy all announced restrictions on UK travel, hours after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that Christmas shopping and gatherings in southern England must be canceled because of rapidly spreading infections blamed on the new coronavirus variant.
Johnson immediately put those regions into a strict new Tier 4 restriction level, upending Christmas plans for millions.
The German government said that it's banning flights coming from Britain in reaction to the new coronavirus strain. The transportation ministry said all UK flights with the exception of cargo flights were no longer allowed to land in Germany starting at midnight Sunday. It didn't immediately say how long the flight ban would last.
The Netherlands banned flights from the UK for at least the rest of the year while Belgium issued a flight ban for 24 hours starting at midnight and also halted train links to Britain, including the Eurostar. Austria and Italy said they would halt flights from the UK but did not say exactly when that would take place.
Italy's health minister, Roberto Speranza, said an order signed Sunday blocks flights from Britain and prohibits entry into Italy by anyone who has been in the UK in the last 14 days. The order bans plane travel until Jan. 6.
The Czech Republic imposed stricter quarantine measures from people arriving from Britain. An EU official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks were still ongoing, said Sunday afternoon that the European Commission was in touch with member states on the rapidly developing situation.
High-speed train operator Eurostar canceled its trains between London, Brussels and Amsterdam beginning Monday, but kept trains operating on the London-to-Paris route.
Johnson said Saturday that a fast-moving new variant of the virus that is 70% more transmissible than existing strains appeared to be driving the rapid spread of new infections in London and southern England. But he stressed "there's no evidence to suggest it is more lethal or causes more severe illness," or that vaccines will be less effective against it.
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said Sunday said he was issuing the flight ban for 24 hours starting at midnight "out of precaution."
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"There are a great many questions about this new mutation," he said, adding he hoped to have more clarity by Tuesday.
The World Health Organization tweeted late Saturday that it was "in close contact with UK officials on the new #COVID19 virus variant" and promised to update governments and the public as more is learned.
The new strain was identified in southeastern England in September and has been spreading in the area ever since, a WHO official told the BBC on Sunday.
"What we understand is that it does have increased transmissibility, in terms of its ability to spread," said Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO's technical lead on COVID-19.
Studies are underway to better understand how fast it spreads and and whether "it's related to the variant itself, or a combination of factors with behavior," she added.
She said the strain had also been identified in Denmark, the Netherlands and Australia, where there was one case that didn't spread further.
Viruses mutate regularly, and scientists have found thousands of different mutations among samples of the virus causing COVID-19. Many of these changes have no effect on how easily the virus spreads or how severe symptoms are.
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