{"id":176,"date":"2020-12-21T10:56:50","date_gmt":"2020-12-21T10:56:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/?p=176"},"modified":"2020-12-21T13:24:56","modified_gmt":"2020-12-21T13:24:56","slug":"more-nations-ban-travel-from-uk-fearing-virus-variant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/2020\/12\/21\/more-nations-ban-travel-from-uk-fearing-virus-variant\/","title":{"rendered":"More nations ban travel from UK, fearing virus variant"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-179\" src=\"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/UK.daily_.rapid_.news_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/UK.daily_.rapid_.news_.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/UK.daily_.rapid_.news_-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/UK.daily_.rapid_.news_-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/UK.daily_.rapid_.news_-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/UK.daily_.rapid_.news_-675x450.jpg 675w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/>A growing list of European Union nations and Canada barred travel from the United Kingdom on Sunday and others were considering similar action, in a bid to block a new strain of coronavirus sweeping across southern England from spreading to the continent.<\/p>\n<p>France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Ireland and Bulgaria all announced restrictions on UK travel, hours after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that Christmas shopping and gatherings in southern England must be cancelled because of rapidly spreading infections blamed on the new coronavirus variant.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson immediately placed those regions under a strict new Tier 4 restriction level, upending Christmas plans for millions.<\/p>\n<p>France banned all travel from the UK for 48 hours from midnight Sunday, including trucks carrying freight through the tunnel under the English Channel or from the port of Dover on England\u2019s south coast. French officials said the pause would buy time to find a \u201ccommon doctrine\u201d on how to deal with the threat, but it threw the busy cross-channel route used by thousands of trucks a day into chaos.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The Port of Dover ferry terminal is now closed to all accompanied traffic leaving the UK until further notice. Operation Stack phase 2 has now been implemented.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Port of Dover Travel (@PoD_travelnews) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PoD_travelnews\/status\/1340798546786852865?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 20, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\nThe Port of Dover tweeted Sunday night that its ferry terminal was \u201cclosed to all accompanied traffic leaving the UK until further notice due to border restrictions in France.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"media w-full w-full media--stretch media--uneven media--embed \">\n<div class=\"media__item media__item--twitter \">\n<div class=\"twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Eurostar passenger trains from London to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam were also halted.<\/p>\n<p>Germany said all flights coming from Britain, except cargo flights, were no longer allowed to land starting midnight Sunday. It didn\u2019t immediately say how long the flight ban would last. Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said he was issuing a flight ban for 24 hours starting at midnight \u201cout of precaution\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are a great many questions about this new mutation,\u201d he said, adding he hoped to have more clarity by Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>Canada announced its own ban Sunday night. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement that for 72 hours starting at midnight Sunday, \u201call flights from the UK will be prohibited from entering Canada.\u201d He added that travellers who arrived Sunday would be subject to secondary screening and other health measures. A follow-up statement from the government said cargo flights were not included in the ban.<\/p>\n<p>The Central American nation of El Salvador, meanwhile, said it would refuse entry to anyone who has visited Britain in the preceding 30 days.<\/p>\n<p>The British government said Johnson would preside at a meeting of the government\u2019s crisis committee, COBRA, on Monday in the wake of the other nations\u2019 measures. They come at a time of huge economic uncertainty for the UK, less than two weeks before it leaves the EU\u2019s economic structures on Dec 31, and with talks on a new post-Brexit trade relationship still deadlocked.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson said Saturday that a\u00a0fast-moving new variant\u00a0of the virus that is 70 per cent more transmissible than existing strains appeared to be driving the rapid spread of new infections in London and southern England in recent weeks. But he stressed \u201cthere\u2019s no evidence to suggest it is more lethal or causes more severe illness,\u201d or that vaccines will be less effective against it.<\/p>\n<p>On Sunday, British Health Secretary Matt Hancock added to the alarm when he said \u201cthe new variant is out of control.\u201d The UK recorded 35,928 further confirmed cases, around double the number from a week ago.<\/p>\n<p>Germany, which holds the rotating EU presidency, called a special crisis meeting on Monday to coordinate the response to the virus news among the bloc\u2019s 27 member states.<\/p>\n<p>The Netherlands banned flights from the UK for at least the rest of the year. Ireland issued a 48-hour flight ban. Italy said it would block flights from the UK until Jan 6, and an order signed Sunday prohibits entry into Italy by anyone who has been in the UK in the last 14 days.<\/p>\n<p>The Czech Republic imposed stricter quarantine measures on people arriving from Britain.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond Europe, Israel also said it was banning flights from Britain, Denmark and South Africa because those were the countries where the mutation is found.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"5fe06fc178408\">New variant<\/h2>\n<p>The World Health Organisation tweeted late Saturday that it was \u201cin close contact with UK officials on the new #COVID19 virus variant\u201d and promised to update governments and the public as more is learned.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">We\u2019re in close contact with UK \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7 officials on the new <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/COVID19?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#COVID19<\/a> virus variant. They\u2019ll continue to share info &amp; results of their analysis &amp; ongoing studies. We\u2019ll update Member States &amp; public as we learn more about the characteristics of this virus variant &amp; any implications.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WHO\/status\/1340422517442420737?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 19, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\nThe new strain was identified in southeastern England in September and has been spreading in the area ever since, a WHO official told the\u00a0<em>BBC<\/em>\u00a0on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat we understand is that it does have increased transmissibility, in terms of its ability to spread,\u201d said Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO\u2019s technical lead on Covid-19.<\/p>\n<p>Studies are underway to better understand how fast it spreads and whether \u201cit\u2019s related to the variant itself, or a combination of factors with behaviour,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p>She said the strain had also been identified in Denmark, the Netherlands and Australia, where there was one case that didn\u2019t spread further.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe longer this virus spreads, the more opportunities it has to change,\u201d she said. \u201cSo we really need to do everything we can right now to prevent spread.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Viruses mutate regularly, and scientists have found thousands of different mutations among samples of the virus causing Covid-19. Many of these changes have no effect on how easily the virus spreads or how severe symptoms are.<\/p>\n<p>British health authorities said that while the variant has been circulating since September, it wasn\u2019t until the last week that officials felt they had enough evidence to declare that it has higher transmissibility than other circulating coronaviruses.<\/p>\n<p>Patrick Vallance, the British government\u2019s chief scientific adviser, said officials are concerned about the new variant because it contained 23 different changes, \u201can unusually large number of variants\u201d affecting how the virus binds to and enters cells in the body.<\/p>\n<p>Officials aren\u2019t certain whether it originated in the UK, Vallance added. But by December, he said it was causing over 60pc of infections in London.<\/p>\n<p>United States President-elect Joe Biden\u2019s nominee for US surgeon general said Sunday that the emergence of the new strain doesn\u2019t change the public health guidance on precautions for reducing the spread of the virus, such as wearing masks, social distancing and washing hands.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile it seems to be more easily transmissible, we do not have evidence yet that this is a more deadly virus to an individual who acquires it,\u201d Vivek Murthy said on\u00a0<em>NBC\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0\u201c<em>Meet the Press<\/em>\u201d. \u201cThere\u2019s no reason to believe that the vaccines that have been developed will not be effective against this virus, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Europe has been walloped this fall by soaring new infections and deaths due to a resurgence of the virus, and many nations have reimposed a series of restrictions to reign in their outbreaks.<\/p>\n<p>Britain has seen over 67,000 deaths in the pandemic, the second-highest confirmed toll in Europe after Italy. Europe as a whole has recorded nearly 499,000 virus deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University that experts believe is an undercount, due to limited testing and missed cases.<\/p>\n<p>The European Medicines Agency, meanwhile, is meeting Monday to approve the first Covid-19 vaccine for the European Union\u2019s 27 nations, bringing vaccinations closer for millions of EU citizens. The vaccine made by German pharmaceutical company BioNTech and American drugmaker Pfizer is already in use in the United States, Britain, Canada and other countries.<\/p>\n<p>The EMA moved up its assessment of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine by a week after heavy pressure from EU governments, especially Germany, which has said that after the EMA approval it could start vaccinating citizens as early as next Sunday.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"5fe06fc178453\">Further restrictions<\/h2>\n<p>In an urgent address to the nation on Saturday, Johnson ordered all non-essential shops, hairdressers and gyms in London and large parts of southern England closed and told Britons to reorganise their holiday plans. No mixing of households is allowed indoors in the region, and only essential travel is permitted. In the rest of England, people will be allowed to meet in Christmas bubbles for just one day instead of the five that were planned.<\/p>\n<p>After he spoke, videos emerged online showing crowds of people at London\u2019s train stations, apparently making a dash for places in the UK with less stringent coronavirus restrictions. Health Secretary Matt Hancock called those scenes \u201ctotally irresponsible\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>While Hancock insisted officials had acted \u201cvery quickly and decisively\u201d, critics said Britain\u2019s Conservative government should have moved against rising infections much earlier.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe alarm bells have been ringing for weeks, but the prime minister chose to ignore them,\u201d said Keir Starmer, leader of the opposition Labour Party. \u201cIt is an act of gross negligence by a prime minister who, once again, has been caught behind the curve.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A growing list of European Union nations and Canada barred travel from the United Kingdom<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":177,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v18.4.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>More nations ban travel from UK, fearing virus variant | Daily Rapid<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A growing list of European Union nations and Canada barred travel from the United Kingdom on Sunday and others were considering similar\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/2020\/12\/21\/more-nations-ban-travel-from-uk-fearing-virus-variant\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"More nations ban travel from UK, fearing virus variant | Daily Rapid\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A growing list of European Union nations and Canada barred travel from the United Kingdom on Sunday and others were considering similar\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/2020\/12\/21\/more-nations-ban-travel-from-uk-fearing-virus-variant\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rapid News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-12-21T10:56:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-12-21T13:24:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/daily.rapid_.uk_.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/\",\"name\":\"Rapid News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/2020\/12\/21\/more-nations-ban-travel-from-uk-fearing-virus-variant\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/daily.rapid_.uk_.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/daily.rapid_.uk_.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":900},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/2020\/12\/21\/more-nations-ban-travel-from-uk-fearing-virus-variant\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/2020\/12\/21\/more-nations-ban-travel-from-uk-fearing-virus-variant\/\",\"name\":\"More nations ban travel from UK, fearing virus variant | Daily Rapid\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/2020\/12\/21\/more-nations-ban-travel-from-uk-fearing-virus-variant\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-21T10:56:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-12-21T13:24:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/950b57c7996a13e09938c5e45be30a5c\"},\"description\":\"A growing list of European Union nations and Canada barred travel from the United Kingdom on Sunday and others were considering similar\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/2020\/12\/21\/more-nations-ban-travel-from-uk-fearing-virus-variant\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/2020\/12\/21\/more-nations-ban-travel-from-uk-fearing-virus-variant\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/2020\/12\/21\/more-nations-ban-travel-from-uk-fearing-virus-variant\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"More nations ban travel from UK, fearing virus variant\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/950b57c7996a13e09938c5e45be30a5c\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b833642ff3b2364918fd2b384cafa111bc9b39a668c6435fe2488d01d4ce563e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b833642ff3b2364918fd2b384cafa111bc9b39a668c6435fe2488d01d4ce563e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"More nations ban travel from UK, fearing virus variant | Daily Rapid","description":"A growing list of European Union nations and Canada barred travel from the United Kingdom on Sunday and others were considering similar","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/2020\/12\/21\/more-nations-ban-travel-from-uk-fearing-virus-variant\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"More nations ban travel from UK, fearing virus variant | Daily Rapid","og_description":"A growing list of European Union nations and Canada barred travel from the United Kingdom on Sunday and others were considering similar","og_url":"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/2020\/12\/21\/more-nations-ban-travel-from-uk-fearing-virus-variant\/","og_site_name":"Rapid News","article_published_time":"2020-12-21T10:56:50+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-12-21T13:24:56+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":900,"url":"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/daily.rapid_.uk_.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"8 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/#website","url":"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/","name":"Rapid News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/2020\/12\/21\/more-nations-ban-travel-from-uk-fearing-virus-variant\/#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/daily.rapid_.uk_.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/daily.rapid_.uk_.jpg","width":1200,"height":900},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/2020\/12\/21\/more-nations-ban-travel-from-uk-fearing-virus-variant\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/2020\/12\/21\/more-nations-ban-travel-from-uk-fearing-virus-variant\/","name":"More nations ban travel from UK, fearing virus variant | Daily Rapid","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/2020\/12\/21\/more-nations-ban-travel-from-uk-fearing-virus-variant\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2020-12-21T10:56:50+00:00","dateModified":"2020-12-21T13:24:56+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/950b57c7996a13e09938c5e45be30a5c"},"description":"A growing list of European Union nations and Canada barred travel from the United Kingdom on Sunday and others were considering similar","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/2020\/12\/21\/more-nations-ban-travel-from-uk-fearing-virus-variant\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/2020\/12\/21\/more-nations-ban-travel-from-uk-fearing-virus-variant\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/2020\/12\/21\/more-nations-ban-travel-from-uk-fearing-virus-variant\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"More nations ban travel from UK, fearing virus variant"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/950b57c7996a13e09938c5e45be30a5c","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b833642ff3b2364918fd2b384cafa111bc9b39a668c6435fe2488d01d4ce563e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b833642ff3b2364918fd2b384cafa111bc9b39a668c6435fe2488d01d4ce563e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng"],"url":"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/daily.rapid_.uk_.jpg","featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/daily.rapid_.uk_.jpg",1200,900,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/daily.rapid_.uk_-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/daily.rapid_.uk_-300x225.jpg",300,225,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/daily.rapid_.uk_-768x576.jpg",640,480,true],"large":["https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/daily.rapid_.uk_-1024x768.jpg",640,480,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/daily.rapid_.uk_.jpg",1200,900,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/daily.rapid_.uk_.jpg",1200,900,false],"cream-magazine-thumbnail-2":["https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/daily.rapid_.uk_.jpg",600,450,false],"cream-magazine-thumbnail-3":["https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/daily.rapid_.uk_.jpg",720,540,false],"cream-magazine-thumbnail-4":["https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/daily.rapid_.uk_.jpg",450,338,false]},"author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/author\/admin\/"},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/category\/world\/\" rel=\"category tag\">World<\/a>","tag_info":"World","comment_count":"0","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":481,"url":"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/2020\/12\/29\/pakistan-reports-first-confirmed-cases-of-new-covid-19-variant-detected-in-uk\/","url_meta":{"origin":176,"position":0},"title":"Pakistan reports first confirmed cases of new Covid-19 variant detected in UK","date":"December 29, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Pakistan on Tuesday reported its first confirmed cases of a new coronavirus strain detected in the United Kingdom earlier this year. According to the Sindh health department, 12 samples of UK returnees were taken for genotyping out of which six were positive and three showed the new variant of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Pakistan&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"pakistan-corona-covid-new-variant-dailyrapidnews-UK","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/pakistan-corona-covid-new-variant-dailyrapidnews-UK.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9108,"url":"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/2021\/04\/19\/uk-pm-johnson-cancels-trip-to-india-due-to-coronavirus-worries\/","url_meta":{"origin":176,"position":1},"title":"UK PM Johnson cancels trip to India due to coronavirus worries","date":"April 19, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday cancelled a planned trip to India, scheduled to take place next week, due to the current\u00a0coronavirus situation in India, Johnson's office said. Johnson had already\u00a0postponed the trip once\u00a0from January, when Covid-19 infections were high in Britain. Infections in India are currently surging as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;World&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"UK-PM-Johnson-cancels-trip-to-India-due-to-coronavirus-worries-rapidnews","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/UK-PM-Johnson-cancels-trip-to-India-due-to-coronavirus-worries-rapidnews.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":435,"url":"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/2020\/12\/28\/saudi-arabia-extends-entry-ban-amid-coronavirus-variant-fears\/","url_meta":{"origin":176,"position":2},"title":"Saudi Arabia extends entry ban amid coronavirus variant fears","date":"December 28, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Saudi Arabia on Monday said it was extending a ban on entry to the Kingdom by air, land and sea for another week. In a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), the Ministry of Interior said the decision was a precautionary measure against the spread of the new\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","img":{"alt_text":"saudi-travel-ban-coronavirus-dialyrapidnews","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/saudi-travel-ban-coronavirus-dialyrapidnews.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7954,"url":"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/2021\/04\/02\/countries-added-to-red-list-to-protect-uk-against-variants-of-concern\/","url_meta":{"origin":176,"position":3},"title":"Countries added to red list to protect UK against variants of concern","date":"April 2, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Philippines, Pakistan, Kenya and Bangladesh have been added to\u00a0England\u2019s red list\u00a0to protect the country against new variants of coronavirus (COVID-19), at a critical time for the vaccine programme. With over 30 million vaccinations delivered in the UK so far, the additional restrictions will help to reduce the risk of new\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;World&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"Countries-added-to-red-list-to-protect-UK-against-variants-of-concern-rapidnews","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Countries-added-to-red-list-to-protect-UK-against-variants-of-concern-rapidnews.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10449,"url":"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/2021\/05\/09\/covid-19-how-effective-are-the-vaccines-against-coronavirus-variantss\/","url_meta":{"origin":176,"position":4},"title":"COVID-19: How effective are the vaccines against coronavirus variants","date":"May 9, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"All viruses mutate. That\u2019s normal when cells replicate. But the new coronavirus is more prone to mutations, and that poses a challenge to COVID-19 vaccine-makers. Why does the SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, mutate easily? Researchers say the coronavirus has an unusually large RNA. Its RNA polymerase (the enzyme\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Health&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"COVID-19-How-effective-are-the-vaccines-against-coronavirus-variants-rapidnews","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/COVID-19-How-effective-are-the-vaccines-against-coronavirus-variants-rapidnews-e1620578325975.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2930,"url":"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/2021\/01\/27\/uk-covid-variant-sufferers-cough-more-but-smell-less-affected\/","url_meta":{"origin":176,"position":5},"title":"UK Covid variant sufferers cough more, but smell less affected","date":"January 27, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"People testing positive for the new British variant of the coronavirus are more likely to report coughing, sore throat or fatigue as symptoms of Covid-19, but are less likely to lose their sense of taste or smell, a British survey has found. The variant, identified in southeast England in December,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Health&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"rapid-news-rapidnews-UK-Covid-variant-sufferers-cough-more-but-smell-less-affected-dailyrapidnews","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/rapid-news-rapidnews-UK-Covid-variant-sufferers-cough-more-but-smell-less-affected-dailyrapidnews.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":181,"href":"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176\/revisions\/181"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}