Latin America begins closing its borders with the United Kingdom due to the new strain of coronavirus

An orderly carries out the transfer of a woman with covid-19 in an intensive therapy unit, in Buenos Aires.JUAN IGNACIO RONCORONI / EFE

Latin America follows, little by little, in the footsteps of Europe.

Argentina, Colombia, Chile and Peru announced this Sunday the suspension of all flights from the United Kingdom, in a last-minute attempt to prevent the entry of the new strain of covid-19 that circulates on the island.

The measure has been evidence of the alarm that has been lit in a region that has not yet overcome the first wave of the pandemic.

It also anticipates travel at the end of the year, when intercontinental traffic tends to increase.

Up to 13 countries of the European Union closed their borders with the United Kingdom to stop the spread of a new, more contagious strain of the coronavirus, detected in the British Isles.

Among them are Germany, Italy, France and the Netherlands.

Spain announced that, for the moment, it will limit itself to increasing control at its airport, but ruled out canceling flights.

The Government of Boris Johnson attributes the rebound in coronavirus cases detected in the country to the new strain.

The restrictions quickly crossed the Atlantic.

Argentina, with 1.5 million positive cases of coronavirus and almost 42,000 deaths, has been the first country in the region to react.

Alberto Fernández's government announced in the middle of the afternoon that all flights to and from the United Kingdom were suspended, with the sole exception of a British Airways service that is already on its way to Buenos Aires.

The plane will land at 9:30 a.m. local time, and its passengers will have to undergo a rapid PCR test and a seven-day quarantine.

Hours before, the Minister of Health, Ginés González García, acknowledged that the health authorities of his country were "very concerned" by the news that came from London and the rebound in cases in the region.

“The world is getting tough.

I am concerned about what is happening in South America.

Cases are on the rise in all neighboring countries.

The only one that is not rising is Argentina, but we have to change our behavior, "the minister told the

América

news channel

.

⚠️ The national government decided to suspend the entry and exit of flights to and from Great Britain as of tomorrow, as a result of the epidemiological situation in that country, after declaring the appearance of a new strain of COVID-19.

+ info at: https://t.co/VCmSlt75SH

- Ministry of Health of the Nation (@msalnacion) December 21, 2020

In Colombia, President Iván Duque personally announced the suspension of flights from the United Kingdom starting this Monday.

The measures “are preventive”, said Duque, “they are not to generate panic or generate any situation of concern in the public.

They are preventive measures that are adopted responsibly and that what they seek is to exercise better epidemiological control ”.

Passengers with Colombian residence who have been in the United Kingdom during the last two weeks and arrive in the country from third countries must comply with a forty of 14 days.

If they are foreigners, they will be prohibited from entering and will be returned to their origin, at a cost to the airline that has transferred them.

The flight ban also reaches Chile, which decided to apply it since Tuesday and for two weeks.

Non-resident foreigners who have been to the United Kingdom and arrive in Santiago via connections will be prohibited from entering;

residents must undergo 14 days of isolation.

Chile accumulates 585,000 infected and 16,154 dead and was in a gradual process of intensification of quarantine, after detecting a significant outbreak of cases.

Peru, meanwhile, has withdrawn the authorization for direct flights from the United Kingdom that it had granted since December 15, after the suspension ordered since the beginning of the pandemic.

"As a preventive measure, we will not authorize direct or stopover flights in the UK until further notice," reported the Ministry of Transport and Communications on Twitter.

The new strain of the coronavirus detected in the United Kingdom has a greater transmission capacity: 70% more than the first, as reported by the scientific team of the British Government.

Up to 62% of new infections in London are derived from the covid-19 mutation.

The same scientists from the Government of Boris Johnson have identified 17 different types of variants in the genetic code of the virus that show that this new strain is more infectious and, therefore, the origin of more infections.

So far it has not been possible to show that the new strain can be more lethal than the previous one.

One of the first SARS-CoV-2 mutations was detected last November in Denmark.

The Danish government ordered the slaughter of millions of minks after detecting the variant of the coronavirus that spread between farms and infected humans.

Until now, the covid-19 vaccines that are in process are considered to be effective against the mutated strain, according to European experts cited by the German Minister of Health.

"The new variant has no impact on vaccines that remain just as effective," German minister Jens Spahn told the public broadcaster ZDF.

Other Latin American countries could join the air restrictions.

The Ecuadorian President, Lenín Moreno, reported on Twitter that he had called an "urgent meeting" of the Emergency Operations Committee to analyze "the last minute information on a new mutation of the coronavirus reported in the United Kingdom."

The Mexican health authorities have not announced travel restrictions with the United Kingdom, but are awaiting the position of the World Health Organization.

Brazil, another of the largest and most populous countries in the region, has so far remained silent.

Information about the coronavirus

- Here you can follow the last hour on the evolution of the pandemic

- This is how the coronavirus curve evolves in the world

- Guide to action against the disease

-Everything you need to know about covid in Latin America