AP: “One by one, several European Union nations banned flights from the U.K. on Sunday and others were considering similar action in a bid to block a new strain of coronavirus sweeping across southern England from establishing a strong foothold on the continent. Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria and Italy all announced restrictions on U.K. travel, hours after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that Christmas shopping and gatherings in southern England must be canceled because of rapidly spreading infections blamed on the new coronavirus variant.”

“Johnson immediately put those regions into a strict new Tier 4 restriction level, upending Christmas plans for millions. A government spokesman in Germany said Sunday that the country is working on a regulation to restrict travel between Germany and Britain to protect the country from the new coronavirus variant. The government said it was also in contact with its European partners about the travel restrictions. It wasn’t immediately clear when or for how long the restrictions would be. The Netherlands banned flights from the U.K. for at least the rest of the year while Belgium issued a flight ban for 24 hours starting at midnight and also halted train links to Britain, including the Eurostar. Austria and Italy said they would halt flights from the U.K. but did not say exactly when that would take place.”