Europe closes to Southern Africa with fear of variant growing

Countries across Europe halted air travel from southern Africa amid growing concern about a new, potentially riskier Covid-19 variant that originated there and has since been traced in people from Belgium to Israel. European Union members agreed to rapidly impose restrictions on seven African countries -- Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe -- as scientists scrambled to determine whether the new strain is more dangerous. The U.K. also closed the routes, though no cases of the new variant have yet been detected in the country. Belgium, meanwhile, confirmed one case of the new Covid-19 variant, called B.1.1529, in someone who traveled from abroad. In Israel, an individual arriving from Malawi was also found to carry the new strain, prompting Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to say his country was “on the verge of an emergency situation.” The new threat comes just as the latest wave of infections spirals out of control in countries from Germany to Belgium to Austria. Some parts of Europe are already back in lockdown due to a spike in cases. In the U.K., which has effectively abandoned restrictions such as mask-wearing and other social-distancing measures, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the new variant poses “substantial risk” to public health, though the government has no plans yet to tighten pandemic rules. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control labeled the strain as a “variant of concern,” its most severe category. The tightening of travel rules are a fresh blow to the airline industry, which was just starting to recover from earlier travel restrictions. European stocks slumped on Friday, heading for their sharpest drop this year, tracking Asian stocks lower. <br/>