BRUSSELS - The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (
Ecdc
) "is closely monitoring the development of the situation of
variant B.1.1.529
of the SarsCoV2 virus and will publish today a
threat assessment document
".
The ECDC itself makes it known.
"
The European Commission
will propose, in close coordination with Member States, to
stop flights
from the Southern African region due to
variant B.1.1.529
".
The president of the European Commission Ursula von del Leyen announced on Twitter.
A series of meetings were organized today in Brussels, to discuss a series of measures to deal with the new variant
that circulates especially in southern Africa and the surge in Covid.
The Slovenian presidency of the EU Council has called a meeting of the ICPR
(the mechanism of the Council with member states for crisis response) to discuss the European Commission's proposal to use the 'emergency brake' to suspend flights from southern Africa. Brussels is also in contact with Eurocontrol and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) who are preparing a recommendation for airports in the EU on the matter. Furthermore, for tonight at 6 pm, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has called a meeting of the task force within the Executive.
"We must remain very
vigilant regarding this new variant" of the virus, "It is good that Member States are acting quickly to take appropriate measures."
This was said by
Dana Spinant
, one of the spokespersons of the European Commission.
Holland, meanwhile, is the first EU country to have introduced a ban on flights from southern Africa
(Botswana, Swaziland, Lesotho, Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa), after the identification of the new Covid variant.
The announcement was made by the Minister of Health, Hugo de Jonge, according to reports from the national media.
The provision is applied starting today at noon.
Passengers on flights traveling from the region will have to undergo tests at Schiphol airport upon arrival and then have to observe a quarantine period.
The Belgian media reported that the
first case in Europe of the new South African variant of the virus was detected in Belgium.
It would be a young adult woman who developed symptoms 11 days after traveling to Egypt via Turkey.
It had no connection with South Africa or any other country in the south of the African continent.
The patient had a high viral load at the time of diagnosis.
She was not vaccinated, nor had she been infected in the past.
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