Bangladesh not decides yet on UK travel ban over new virus strain

GBNEWS24 DESK//

Bangladesh has not decided yet to impose a ban on air travel to and from the United Kingdom amid growing fears over the emergence of a newly-identified variant of the coronavirus in the country.

The authorities are carefully monitoring the situation in Britain and a decision on the matter will be reached in due time, Civil Aviation and Tourism Secretary Md Mohibul Huque said at a media briefing on Tuesday.

Countries across the globe, including India, Pakistan, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Russia, Jordan and Hong Kong, suspended travel for Britons after Prime Minister Boris Johnson said a mutated variant of the virus had been identified in the country.

Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman closed their borders completely, reports bdnews24.com.

“We will finalise our decision over the travel ban soon,” Mohibul said.

The discovery of the new strain, just months before vaccines are expected to be widely available, sowed new panic in a pandemic that has killed about 1.7 million people worldwide and more than 67,000 in Britain.

A new variant of the pandemic SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus was discovered in September and it is spreading rapidly in Britain and few more countries. Australia and the Netherlands have already detected cases of the fast-spreading coronavirus strain.

At least 40 countries across the globe have blocked travel from Britain over the weekend, including France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Ireland, Belgium and Canada.