With concern over new coronavirus variants, governments across the European Union announced last week new travel restrictions in hopes to limit the increase of new cases.
Belgium Prime Minister Alexander De Croo announced his country would ban all nonessential travel until at least 1 March. He said, “When people travel, the virus travels with them.”
Besides the ban, those traveling from Britain, South Africa, and South America will have to quarantine for ten days to prevent new variants to enter the country, the Associated Press reported. Belgium, a country of 11.46 million, has recorded nearly 700,000 cases and 20,620 deaths, according to the report.
France announced it will require all travelers to test negative for the virus within 72 hours of boarding a plane. France 24 reported that the country of 67.06 million had a death toll of 72,877 as of last Sunday. Prime Minister Jean Castex said at least one million people in his country have received the coronavirus vaccine.
Oliver Véran, the French health minister, said another lockdown could be announced if the 6:00 PM curfew proves to be ineffective, The Guardian reported, citing a local newspaper.
Véran said in a “best-case scenario, we will manage to diminish the pressure of the epidemic. If not, we will not wait for the month of March before acting. If the variants start to spread everywhere, we will take extra measures. And that’s called confinement… We will close down.”
Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa said last week he has banned flights to and from the U.K. due to virus mutation that has been recorded there. Euronews reported there have been calls in the country to delay its presidential elections, but they carried on, and its president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, won a second term with 61 percent of the vote.
Johns Hopkins University, which has been monitoring the outbreak, reported Portugal has experienced the highest infection rate per 100,000 in the world.
TREND FORECAST: The Trends Journal has predicted the rise of populist candidates due to economy-killing coronavirus lockdowns. Portugal watched André Ventura, a right-wing populist, pull in 12 percent of the country’s vote to come in third place. The AP reported, “Such a showing for Ventura would have been unthinkable until recently and will send a shudder through Portuguese politics.”
