Greece imposes 7-day quarantine for travelers from UK amid new COVID-19 variant fears
Greece has introduced mandatory seven-day quarantine for all passengers arriving from the United Kingdom in a move to prevent the spread of new virus variant
- World News
- 2 min read
Greece has introduced mandatory seven-day quarantine for all passengers arriving from the United Kingdom in a move to prevent the spread of a new variant of coronavirus, Greek Secretary-General for Civil Protection said on December 20. In addendum to mandatory isolation, all people arriving from Britain would be required to have submitted a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test submitted 72 hours before arrival. Earlier this week, British scientists warned that there was a new mutated genome of the COVID-19 disease-causing virus which was more contagious and was spreading at a faster rate.
“With regards to all arrivals from the United Kingdom, it is announced that starting from December 6 am on Monday, December 21, the requirement of a seven day home isolation comes into force instead of three days that applies to arrival from any country,” a statement from authorities said.
The discovery of this new and more lethal viral strain has now led to major European nations, including France, Italy Belgium, Austria, The Netherlands isolating Britain. On December 20, the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) after reviewing travel advisories for people arriving in the Netherlands from the UK decided to ban flights from the United Kingdom to the Netherlands. According to the Netherlands government website, this order will be in force from December 20 at 6:00 am until January 1, 2021.
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New virus variant spreads across the UK
“We’ve currently identified over 1,000 cases with this variant predominantly in the South of England,” the British health secretary Matt Hancock said in a statement released by Downing Street. London, parts of Essex, Hertfordshire, and South Wales have been witnessing “sharp, exponential rises”, Hancock informed, adding that in South of England, though, the caseload was increasing at an extremely rapid rate due to new variant. Until the vaccine was rolled out, it would be “very difficult” to control this infection rate, he said.
Meanwhile, World Health Organization announced that it was in close contact with the UK government to gain more information about the new coronavirus variant. Taking to its official Twitter handle, the organization wrote, "We’re in close contact with UK officials on the new COVID19 virus variant. They’ll continue to share info and results of their analysis and ongoing studies".
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Image: AP