Mutant Covid strain spreads globally

The highly transmissible variant of the coronavirus first detected in England had spread to many countries in Europe as well as Canada, Japan, Australia and Lebanon. This is despite efforts to contain the spread through massive global disruptions in travel and movement.

The variant has also been detected in France, Denmark, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany and Ital.

Beginning today, the US government will require all travellers flying in from Britain to show proof of a negative coronavirus test taken within 72 hours of the plane’s departure.

Japan has temporarily banned all foreign nationals except those with residency from entering the country starting tomorrow through the end of January. Japan reported its first case of the British variant on Friday amid a new surge of coronavirus cases in the capital,

Countries across Europe and other continents began to block or restrict travellers from the UK last week in reaction to the variant’s outbreak. Some, like France, have since walked back near total border closures amid widespread disruptions in trade and travel.

Scientists, however, are also closely following news of another variant of the novel coronavirus first detected in South Africa that experts say also appears to be highly transmissible.

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