Israel bars UK, Denmark, South Africa nationals from entering country

Foreign nationals traveling from Denmark, South Africa, and Britain have been barred from entering Israel territory after a new “fast-spreading” strain of COVID-19 was discovered in the UK, the Israeli government said on Sunday.

UK Chief Medical Adviser Chris Whitty confirmed on Saturday that a new strain of COVID-19 was found to spread more quickly than previously known while noting that urgent research is underway to see if the mutation causes a higher mortality rate.

“As announced on Monday, the UK has identified a new variant of COVID-19 through Public Health England’s genomic surveillance,” Whitty said in a statement.

“As a result of the rapid spread of the new variant, preliminary modeling data, and rapidly rising incidence rates in the South East, the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG) now consider that the new strain can spread more quickly.”

Britain reported 28,507 new COVID-19 cases on Friday and 489 deaths, with the reproduction “R” number estimated to be between 1.1 and 1.2, meaning the number of cases is rapidly increasing.

Israel is said to be keeping a close eye on the recent developments in Britain as it begins to roll out its nationwide vaccine drive launched on Sunday morning.