India suspends all flights to and from UK until Dec 31

Bengaluru: India on Monday announced a suspension of all flights originating from the United Kingdom to the country until the end of the year, the aviation ministry said in a tweet.

The ban will come into effect on Wednesday and all passengers arriving from the UK before then will be tested on arrival at airports, the ministry said.

A number of European nations among others have shut off travel ties to the UK after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned that a highly infectious new strain of the coronavirus was a danger to the country.

'Sick man of Europe'

DOVER, England: The United Kingdom was on Monday shut off from the rest of Europe after its closest allies cut transport ties due to fears about a new coronavirus strain, sowing chaos for families and companies just days before it exits the European Union's orbit.

France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Ireland, Belgium, Israel and Canada were among those that shut off travel ties after Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned that a highly infectious new strain of the virus was a danger to the country.

Johnson will chair an emergency response meeting on Monday to discuss international travel, in particular the flow of freight in and out of Britain. EU officials are due to hold a meeting at 1000 GMT on coordinating their response.

France shut its border to arrivals of people and trucks from the United Kingdom, closing off one of the most important trade arteries with mainland Europe, a step Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said was surprising.

"We're doing everything we can to get that restarted," Shapps told Sky. "They've said to us they want to restart the hauliers as quickly as possible."

As families and truck drivers tried to navigate the travel bans to get back home in time for Christmas, there were fears that fresh food supplies to and from Europe would be disrupted though supermarkets have enough to cope with festive demand for now.

Shellfish producers in Scotland said they had tonnes of perishable product stranded on roads as the French border was closed. Disruption in Britain will also snarl supplies to Ireland.

Hong Kong is also due to ban all flights arriving from the United Kingdom from midnight, becoming the first city in Asia to do so. Asian nations including Japan and South Korea said they were closely monitoring the new strain.

The pound fell more than 2 cents to $1.3279 and the FTSE 100 fell 2 per cent at the open, with travel companies such as British Airways-owner IAG tumbling 15 per cent. The yield on 2-year UK gilts hit a record low.

Rest of Asia monitoring new UK strain

Singapore: Battling their own surges in coronavirus cases, Asian nations including Japan and South Korea said they were closely monitoring a new supervirulent strain of the virus identified in Britain, but none immediately cancelled UK flights.

The new strain could be up to 70 per cent more infectious, the United Kingdom has said, prompting its European neighbours and several other countries including Canada and Iran to close their doors to travellers from the country.

Much is unknown about the strain, but experts said current vaccines should still be effective against it. No Asian country has reported the new strain.

South Korea, which imposes a 14-day quarantine for everyone entering the country, said on Monday it was reviewing new measures for flights from the UK and would test twice those coming in from Britain before they were released from quarantine.

New cases climbed to over 1,000 a day in South Korea several times last week. It reported on Sunday an outbreak in a Seoul prison where 188 inmates and staff were infected.

The country, which has said it is running short of hospital beds, said on Monday Seoul will ban gatherings of more than four people later this week and double hospital beds for critical COVID-19 cases by year-end.

Taiwan, which also has a 14-day quarantine, said on Sunday there were no plans at present to stop flights from Britain.

An Indian government committee tasked with monitoring the pandemic, will meet on Monday to discuss the new strain, local media reported, but there was no clarity on whether flights to the UK would be halted. The UK is one of 23 countries that India shares an "air bubble" with.

India, which has the second-highest number of cases after the United States, does not currently mandate institutional quarantine for international travellers if they have a negative COVID-19 test result 72 hours before entering India.

Japan, where entry from Britain is already banned in principle, said it would keep in close touch with other countries as well as the World Health Organization to see how the new type of virus was spreading.