More countries are tightening their travel restrictions after the discovery of a new coronavirus variant in South Africa earlier this week. The UK, Singapore and Japan are among those rushing in stricter quarantine measures and banning flights from South Africa and neighboring countries. Concerns over the new COVID-19 variant have prompted fresh travel restrictions in Italy and Germany on Friday and the EU is proposing to ban flights from the region across the whole bloc. Scientists still have much to learn about the variant, but say they are very worried about it. The World Health Organization (WHO) has said it will take a few weeks to understand the impact of the new variant, as scientists work to determine how transmissible it is. The European Commission will propose to suspend air travel from southern Africa amid concerns over the variant, EC President Ursula Von der Leyen said on Friday. Germany and Italy have already announced measures to restrict air travel from the region. Rome has banned entry on its territory to anyone who has stayed in southern Africa "during the last 14 days", said health minister Roberto Speranza, invoking "maximum precaution" in the face of the new variant. The countries targeted by this measure are South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia and Eswatini, the minister said. German Health Minister Jens Spahn said airlines coming from South Africa will only be able to transport German citizens. Travelers will need to go into quarantine for 14 days whether they are vaccinated or not. "The last thing we need is to bring in a new variant that will cause even more problems," he said. Outside the EU, the UK and Israel have already announced travel restrictions for the southern African region amid concerns over the new variant. London said that it was banning flights from South Africa and five other southern African countries effective at noon on Friday and that anyone who had recently arrived from those countries would be asked to take a coronavirus test. Scientists say is the variant is a concern because of its high number of mutations and rapid spread among young people in Gauteng, South Africa's most populous province. Currently identified as B.1.1.529, the new variant has also been found in Botswana and Hong Kong in travelers from South Africa. — Agencies
