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HEALTH

UPDATE: Italy suspends air travel with UK over new coronavirus strain

Italy has joined Belgium and the Netherlands in stopping flights from the UK, as the British government warned that a potent new strain of the virus was "out of control".

Published: 20 December 2020 14:11 CET
Updated: 20 December 2020 19:04 CET
UPDATE: Italy suspends air travel with UK over new coronavirus strain
Photo: AFP

Air travel between the two countries has been suspended, Italy's health minister said on Sunday.

Health Minister Roberto Speranza stated on Sunday afternoon that he had signed an ordinance “which blocks flights from Great Britain and prohibits entry into Italy of people who have stayed there during the last 14 days”.

EXPLAINED: What you need to know about Italy’s UK coronavirus travel ban

The travel ban applies from December 20th until January 6th, according to an update on the Italian government's travel advice website.

Anyone already in Italy who recently travelled from Britain “is required to undergo an antigen or molecular swab test by contacting the health authorities,” Speranza added.

 
The flight ban is a “precautionary measure” advised by Italy's scientific experts while they try to “understand the extent of the problem,” Speranza said.
 
“Having found a variant of the virus, we're facing a new problem. We've chosen to block flights until we understand it better,” he said in an interview on Italian TV channel Rai 3.
“The UK has raised the alarm about a new form of Covid resulting from a mutation in the virus,” Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio wrote earlier on Sunday in a Facebook post.

“As a government we have a duty to protect Italians. For this reason, after having notified the English government, along with the Ministry of Health we are about to sign the order to suspend flights with Great Britain.”

 
Airport authorities in Rome confirmed that flights to and from the UK were being cancelled, after reports that passengers were prevented from boarding UK-bound flights from Rome's Fumicino airport.
 
“Flights to and from the UK and Northern Ireland have been cancelled, due to the Health Ministry ordinance valid until January 6th”, Rome airport authorities announced on Sunday.

 
The 110 passengers who landed at Fiumicino in the afternoon on a flight from London Heathrow – the last one before the travel ban – were being tested at the airport according to Italian media.
 
On Sunday, one person tested positive in Rome for the new strain after recently arriving from the UK.
 
A patient in Rome's Celio military hospital had been found to have the new more infectious virus mutation, a health ministry statement said. The patient was in isolation along with family members.
 
The Netherlands on Sunday banned air travel to and from the UK until at least January 1st after Dutch authorities confirmed that they had isolated at least one case of the same variant of the virus in the country.

Belgium also announced a ban on flights for 24 hours, which looks set to be extended.

READ ALSO: Germany to stop all flights in and out of UK starting midnight Sunday

Several other EU countries including Sweden, France and Germany announced travel bans later on Sunday.

France announced a ban on travel from the UK, including by road and rail, for at least the next 48 hours.

 

The new variant of the virus is believed to have first appeared in the London and Kent areas in September, and is reported to be up to 70 percent more contagious than other strains.

The World Health Organization said that nine cases have been detected in Denmark and one each in the Netherlands and Australia.

A new strain has also been identified in South Africa.

The variant was cited by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson as the reason behind last-minute changes to health restrictions in London and South East England, announced on Saturday, which have seen thousands of people unable to travel as planned over Christmas.

The new coronavirus variant is spreading more rapidly than the original version, but it is not believed to be more deadly, the BBC reports.

The same mutation of the Covid-19 virus has also been detected in the Netherlands, Denmark and Australia, the WHO told the BBC.

There is no evidence to suggest the new variant reacts differently to vaccines.

London and many parts of south-east England have been placed under further restrictions in a bid to curb the spread of the virus.

All travellers arriving in Italy had already been subject to mandatory quarantine from December 21st.

Travellers from the UK also already faced the possibility of a ban on non-essential travel from January 1st, when the UK will be outside the EU and therefore covered by the closure of the Bloc's external borders, which has been in place since March.

 

Member comments

  1. The BBC reports state only “from UK to Italy”, and the local.it reports “to and from”. Is there somewhere more clarity can be sought please? I have an outbound flight to UK that still exists…? Thanks

  2. The BBC reports state only “from UK to Italy”, and the local.it reports “to and from”. Is there somewhere more clarity can be sought please? I have an outbound flight to UK that still exists…? Thanks

  4. Sure, thanks. The article above should perhaps be tweaked to state “from” rather than “to and from” till there is more clarity? Best, MJ

  5. Ministry of Health decree states *from* UK to Italy:

    “ATTENTION – UNITED KINGDOM: the Minister of Health, by order of 20 December 2020, has ordered the suspension of air traffic from the United Kingdom. A ban on entry into Italy was also ordered for anyone who has stayed / transited from the United Kingdom in the previous 14 days. Those who have already entered Italy are required to immediately contact the ASL of reference to undergo the test for the detection of the SARS-CoV-2 virus (molecular or antigenic, carried out by means of a swab). The Ordinance is effective from the date of adoption (December 20) to January 6, 2021.
    For countries from / for which Italy does not place restrictions, it is recommended to always consult the Country Sheet on ViaggiareSicuri: local authorities may still maintain entry restrictions for travelers (including from Italy).
    A questionnaire is also available, based on the legislation in force in Italy. The questionnaire is informative, has no legal value and the result obtained does not guarantee entry to Italy or the country of destination”

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HEALTH

Italy’s schools warned to ‘avoid gatherings’ as Covid cases rise

As Italy’s new school year began, masks and hand sanitiser were distributed in schools and staff were asked to prevent gatherings to help stem an increase in Covid infections.

Published: 11 September 2023 12:48 CEST
Italy’s schools warned to ‘avoid gatherings’ as Covid cases rise

Pupils returned to school in many parts of Italy on Monday and authorities said they were distributing masks and hand sanitiser amid a post-summer increase in the number of recorded cases of Covid–19.

“The advice coming from principals, teachers and janitors is to avoid gatherings of students, especially in these first days of school,” Mario Rusconi, head of Italy’s Principals’ Association, told Rai news on Monday.

He added that local authorities in many areas were distributing masks and hand sanitizer to schools who had requested them.

“The use of personal protective equipment is recommended for teachers and students who are vulnerable,” he said, confirming that “use is not mandatory.”

A previous requirement for students to wear masks in the classroom was scrapped at the beginning of the last academic year.

Walter Ricciardi, former president of the Higher Health Institute (ISS), told Italy’s La Stampa newspaper on Monday that the return to school brings the risk of increased Covid infections.

Ricciardi described the health ministry’s current guidelines for schools as “insufficient” and said they were “based on politics rather than scientific criteria.”

READ ALSO:

Recorded cases of Covid have increased in most Italian regions over the past three weeks, along with rates of hospitalisation and admittance to intensive care, as much of the country returns to school and work following the summer holidays.

Altogether, Italy recorded 21,309 new cases in the last week, an increase of 44 percent compared to the 14,863 seen the week before.

While the World Health Organisation said in May that Covid was no longer a “global health emergency,” and doctors say currently circulating strains of the virus in Italy are not a cause for alarm, there are concerns about the impact on elderly and clinically vulnerable people with Italy’s autumn Covid booster campaign yet to begin.

“We have new variants that we are monitoring but none seem more worrying than usual,” stated Fabrizio Maggi, director of the Virology and Biosafety Laboratories Unit of the Lazzaro Spallanzani Institute for Infectious Diseases in Rome

He said “vaccination coverage and hybrid immunity can only translate into a milder disease in young and healthy people,” but added that “vaccinating the elderly and vulnerable continues to be important.”

Updated vaccines protecting against both flu and Covid are expected to arrive in Italy at the beginning of October, and the vaccination campaign will begin at the end of October, Rai reported.

Amid the increase in new cases, Italy’s health ministry last week issued a circular mandating Covid testing on arrival at hospital for patients with symptoms.

Find more information about Italy’s current Covid-19 situation and vaccination campaign on the Italian health ministry’s website (available in English).

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