A growing number of EU countries including Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Austria and the Netherlands moved over the weekend to halt travel from the UK because of its sharp rise in coronavirus cases, caused in part by a more infectious new strain.
Germany, Italy and the Netherlands announced on Sunday that they were stopping flights from the UK while Belgium banned air and rail travel. Austria said it was preparing a blanket ban and Ireland was considering sweeping curbs on passenger flights and ferries. Eurostar said it would be unable to “run trains between London, Brussels and Amsterdam” from Monday. France has called an emergency inner cabinet meeting later on Sunday.
The unilateral moves sparked calls for a more co-ordinated EU response to the UK situation as scientists also expressed concern that the more transmissible new variant had appeared in other countries including Denmark and the Netherlands.