Countries Enact Travel Bans Against UK After New Variant of Covid-19 Discovered There

The UK is becoming increasingly cut off from the rest of the world after developing a new Covid-19 variant. Not much is known about this new strain of coronavirus but scientists believe it emerged in September and could be up to 70% more transmissible. It may also be responsible for their sudden spike in new infections over the last week. There’s currently no evidence to suggest the new variant is more deadly or would be ineffective against the recently approved vaccines. But it could have a severe impact on the number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths in the coming weeks and months. In response, the UK has entered one of their strictest lockdowns and Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to hold an emergency meeting today. News of the Covid variant was met with strict travel bans against the UK by over two dozen countries, not including the U.S. Despite these efforts, several countries have already begun reporting a handful of patients who’ve contracted the new variant.