A tent set up in front of the emergency ward of Cremona hospital in Italy.
Italy has detected a patient infected with the new strain of the coronavirus also found in Britain, news agency ANI reported quoting the Health Ministry. The patient and his partner returned from the United Kingdom in the last few days, reports said. They reached Rome’s Fiumicino airport and were now in isolation.
Britain’s European neighbours began closing their doors to travellers from the United Kingdom on Sunday amid alarm about the rapidly spreading strain of coronavirus that has caused cases to soar there.
Meanwhile, a growing list of European Union nations and Canada barred travel from the UK and others were considering similar action.
France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Ireland and Bulgaria all have 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 placed those regions under a strict new Tier 4 restriction level, upending Christmas plans for millions.
While France banned all travel from the UK for 48 hours from midnight Sunday, Germany said all flights coming from Britain, except cargo flights, were no longer allowed to land starting midnight Sunday. The Netherlands banned flights from the UK for at least the rest of the year. Ireland issued a 48-hour flight ban. Italy said it would block flights from the UK until January 6. The Czech Republic imposed stricter quarantine measures from people arriving from Britain.
Beyond Europe, Israel also said it was banning flights from Britain, Denmark and South Africa because those were the countries where the mutation is found. Canada also announced 72 hours ban starting at midnight Sunday.
With Inputs from Agencies
