December 21st – According to CNN on the 21st, Kerry Chant, Australia’s chief health officer of New South Wales, said on the same day that a variant of the novel coronavirus that was ravaging in Britain had been found on two returning tourists.
Shant said that when the two tourists returned from the United Kingdom, they were found to have been infected when they were forcibly quarantined by the government.
London, the capital of the United Kingdom, has imposed the highest level of “Level 4” blockade restrictions since the morning of the 20th. The more stringent restrictions announced in the short term are reported to deal with the grim situation of rapid spread after the mutation of the novel coronavirus, which is currently believed to be 70% more transmittable than the original strain.
The British side said that the new variant may have been transmitted to foreign countries, and the most urgent task is to ensure that the mutant virus does not lead to higher mortality.
In response, several European countries have banned direct flights from the United Kingdom. Other European countries are expected to follow suit quickly, and London has entered a stricter blockade.
Australia said on the 21st that it would not consider banning flights from the UK because of the virus, because the country “has established a quarantine system”.
According to statistics from Johns Hopkins University, Australia has confirmed more than 28,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, of which 908 have died from the epidemic.
