Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo announced Sunday that Belgium's borders would be closed for people traveling from the United Kingdom from midnight. The ban will remain in force for 24 hours. Unlike an earlier ban imposed by the Dutch government the ban on people traveling to Belgium from the UK will apply not only to air passengers, but also to rail passengers, Belgian VRT news network reported. De Croo told VRT that the decision had been taken as a "precautionary measure" and as a reaction to the Dutch government's ban on flights from the UK that was taken to prevent the spread of a more contagious strain of coronavirus. The measure taken by the Belgian government will remain in force for 24 hours as consultative talks with scientists about the new strain of the virus are still ongoing. Anyone arriving in Belgium from the UK Sunday will have to quarantine. They will also face additional checks to ensure that they are not infected. European countries started banning flights coming from the UK on Sunday as government in London warned that a potent new strain of the virus was "out of control". Following the example of the Netherlands, where a ban on all UK passenger flights came into effect on Sunday, a German government source said Berlin, too, was considering a similar move as "a serious option" for flights from both Britain and South Africa. The Dutch ban came into effect from 6:00 a.m. (0500 GMT) and will last until Jan. 1. Neighboring Belgium also said it was suspending flight and train arrivals from Britain from midnight. The moves come as around a third of England's population entered a Christmas lockdown and UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock warned that the new strain of virus was "out of control". Speaking on Sky News, Hancock said the situation was "deadly serious." "It's going to be very difficult to keep it under control until we have the vaccine rolled out," he said. It seems that scientists first discovered the new variant in a patient in September. Susan Hopkins of Public Health England told Sky News that the agency notified the government on Friday when modeling revealed the full seriousness of the new strain. Last week, Europe became the first region in the world to pass 500,000 deaths from COVID-19 since the pandemic broke out a year ago, killing more than 1.6 million worldwide and pitching the global economy into turmoil. The Netherlands is under a five-week lockdown until mid-January with schools and all non-essential shops closed to slow a surge in the virus. Italy also announced a new regime of restrictions until Jan. 6 that included limits on people leaving their homes more than once a day, closing non-essential shops, bars and restaurants and curbs on regional travel. — Agencies
