France, Belgium and the Netherlands resume flights to United Kingdom.
Last Sunday, a new strain of the coronavirus was discovered and set off alarm bells in all countries of the world, especially in Europe. It appeared in the United Kingdom and caused a wave of flight cancellations between the English country and more than fifteen states, for fear that it would not spread.
See also: New York asks airlines flying from UK to perform Covid tests.
Spain was from the beginning trying to make a joint decision in the EU and not to make its own unilateral decision, as Germany, France or Italy had already done. However, given the slowness shown from Europe, the Spanish executive decided to talk to Portugal to take the decision to cancel flights with the United Kingdom jointly, and so it was done, he said 20 minutos.
A few days after these closures, several ministers from different countries admitted that it was very possible that this new virus strain was already among their borders, so it is expected that flights to and from the United Kingdom will resume in a short period of time.
See also: FAA approves the use Pfizer’s vaccine for pilots and controllers.
In order to encourage this return to border connections, the European Commission recommended on Tuesday to the Member States of the European Union (EU) to resume their connections with the United Kingdom for “essential travel”, in order to avoid a “break in the supply chain”.
France, the first to return to ‘normal
France is one of the countries that has already announced that it has resumed flights with the English, as well as ship and Eurostar train traffic, that is, traffic that connects London, Paris and Brussels through the Eurotunnel. “Planes, ships and Eurostars will resume service,” French Transport Minister Baptiste Djebbari announced on Tuesday.
However, the conditions to enter the country were specified by the minister: “Those who have a legitimate reason may enter as long as they have a negative test”. In other words, a negative PCR test must be presented at least 72 hours in advance. “I am satisfied with the agreement we were able to reach with the British authorities in record time,” Djebbari concluded.
Belgium and the Netherlands follow the EU recommendations, Germany hopes
From the European Union, in the middle of the final stretch of the Brexit negotiations, they are calling for the resumption of connections between the United Kingdom and the other states at least for “essential journeys”. Belgium and Holland have decided to follow these recommendations and have started by resuming only this type of trips and always requesting a negative PCR test carried out a maximum of 72 hours before.
On the other hand, Germany has decided to wait and keep all flights to the United Kingdom cancelled for the time being, waiting for more data on the new strain to be known so that a decision can be made.
Bulgaria also resumes connections but introduces quarantine
The Bulgarian government has announced that as of this Wednesday, it is allowing the landing of planes from the United Kingdom and the entry of travelers from that country. However, they have pointed out that those who arrive by air will be subjected to a rapid antigen test at the airports and will have to remain, regardless of the result, ten days in quarantine.
Furthermore, the government has not clarified whether this measure will apply to those arriving by road or by ship who have had the United Kingdom as their starting point of travel. As of January 1, everyone wishing to enter Bulgaria will be required to present a negative PCR test conducted within the previous 72 hours, as reported by the Executive.
Denmark will wait until Friday
The Danish government has extended until Friday the 48-hour suspension of flights with the United Kingdom decreed last Monday, due to the new strain of the most contagious coronavirus detected in this country.
“We are following the situation closely, right now there is great uncertainty about the new mutation and whether travelers from England will follow the recommendation of ten days of isolation. That is why health authorities advise maintaining the flight ban,” he said in a statement from the Ministry of Transport.
Finally, the Danish authorities recommend that those who have traveled from the United Kingdom to Denmark from November 30th to isolate themselves for ten days, as a means of preventing contagion.
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